Beaded Diviner's Bag
(Apo Ifa)

Origin: Yoruba Tribe, Nigeria
Composition: glass beads, aso'oke textile

The most emblematic and personalized accessory of a Yoruba diviner (babalawo) is his apo Ifa, a beaded bag featuring brilliant adornment that is not merely decorative but constitutes a commentary on his vocation through its materials and color scheme. Dedicated to the perpetual pursuit of knowledge, diviners lead a peripatetic existence, making themselves available as advisers and seeking out renowned colleagues whose wisdom and talent might expand their own understanding.

This piece provides focal points for exploring the complex identity of the diviner and his or her exalted status and important social role in Yoruba life. The beaded bag in which Yoruba diviners carry their divination instruments is an emblematic yet highly personalized accessory, emblazoned with dynamic graphic designs. Like the ivory used for making divination tappers and vessels, beads were a costly material restricted to a privileged elite in Yoruba society; here, they are used to comment on the diviner's role as a sacred mediator (Passage from Drewal and the Metropolitan Museum of Art).