#ijebu

Aso olona is not standard attire for chiefs or Ogboni members throughout Yorubaland and therefore does not figure in many studies on Ogboni ritual. Only the Egba, the Ijebu's neighbors to the west, use the cloths for chieftaincy and Oshugbo attire in ways similar to those of the Ijebu.29 Nonetheless aso olona has made an impact on regions well beyond the Ijebu area, mainly to the east, among Ijo groups living at the eastern end of the Niger Delta proper. Nembe, Kalabari, and Ibani Ijo families typically own a type of cloth that bears a striking resem- blance to aso olona both in overall construction and in its array of patterns. This textile seems to have had its origin among the Ijebu, although the Ijo identify it and its designs as ikakibite (ikag- ibara among the Nembe), meaning "cloth of the tortoise." The Ijo regard the tortoise as supremely powerful because of his wise and cunning behav- ior, and so give him prominence on this prestigious cloth. The Ijebu honor the tortoise as one of many water spirits, but they do not represent him on aso olona. The fact that the Ijo refer to all of the patterns on the cloth as tortoise suggests that they have reinterpreted the meaning of the varied Ijebu patterns to make them their own, a process Joanne Eicher and Tonye Erekosima have termed "cultural authentication" (1981). Nonetheless, Eastern Ijo groups are well aware of the western origins of their tortoise cloth. This is expressed clearly in a Nembe Ijo masquerade called Owuaya, which is the name for both the mother or guardian mask and the entire canoe-load of masquerades that she brings ashore. The Owuaya complex can only be performed (i.e., brought out from the canoe) through the presentation of a cloth bearing the tortoise design. According to E. J. Ala- goa's 1982 account, the Opu Sekiapu (head of the Sekiapu society) first offers fifteen manillas, a traditional form of money, to which Owuaya, the mother or guardian of the masquerades, replies that they are worth "more than four hundred manillas, indeed more than four hundred times four hundred manillas." The Opu Sekiapu then offers a piece of rare handwoven cloth called iselema bite (Fig. 25). It is only this cloth that is deemed acceptable as payment for the masquerades to exit from the canoe and dance (Alagoa 1982:272). Owuaya says: "The cloth is fine, very fine. Is this not a unique cloth from Warri river? The cloth is fine, very fine. This cloth that comes from Warri river. Is it not a special cloth?" In addition to suggesting the cloth's extreme value, the words confirm that the cloth came from the west, or Warri, side of the Delta, iselema being the Nembe word for that side. Moreover, the cloth's panel construction and weft-float patterns strongly suggest Ijebu origins. Some Ijo groups, the Egbema Ijo of the Western Delta periphery in particular, even refer to such cloth as idokobite, bite being the word for cloth and idoko, the local name for the Ijebu.