Home/Shop/Aṣọ àti ìlẹ̀kẹ̀ — Cloth and adornment
Gèlè — Head Wraps
Price in store
On the shelf. The price is not published online — call and they will hold one.
About this picture
A licensed stand-in showing the kind of thing, not a photograph of Afrikan Marketplace Atlanta’s own stock. Theirs replaces it as soon as they send one.
What this is
Worn or carried rather than burned. What is left with you once a working has been done.
The practice
What this tradition does with an object like this — how it is used, not a promise about what follows.
How it is used
- 1Carried or worn rather than burned. Kept on you, in a bag, or on the altar.
- 2Cleansed when it starts to feel heavy — smoke or a wipe with a cleansing water is what tradition uses.
Working it properly
The craft under the instructions — direction, count and order. This is the part that is normally only said across a counter.
- Kept out of sight. A carried piece is not jewellery, and the tradition is plain that it is not handled casually by other people.
- Fed rather than replaced — a drop of the oil it was made for, or a pinch of powder into the bag, on a schedule the carrier keeps.
- Cleansed in smoke or with a cleansing water when it starts to feel heavy, which is the language practitioners use for a piece that has been working.
- Set on the altar overnight when it is not being carried, rather than left in a drawer with ordinary things.
What people get wrong
- Letting other people handle it casually.