Khadejia represents Mai-Lema at the centre of the canopy group in photograph55, 1914
The caption identifies Khadejia as Mai-Lema at the centre, surrounded by companions beneath the canopy. It expressly says the standing people are not possessed. This records a historically named human representation, not an image of a supernatural body.
Overview
Mai-Lema is the One with the Covering, explained as a canopy, and is better known in Hausaland as Ba-Gudu, the brave or non-running one. The account generally places him first among the youthful spirits. Two different lists describe children Yerima entrusted to Mallam Ali Geshe and Magajiya when taking away their son Haukachi; Mai-Lema appears in both, but the other names and number differ. The lists are alternative accounts rather than a single reconstructed family.
In Tunis, Mai-Lema and his companions first gather under a canopy and pay him court, a practice Tremearne says he did not see elsewhere. His representation opens the clothing wide and later waves a spear. The song has him lead before a king going to war and describes households contributing labor to prepare supplies. The source’s regional limit is retained rather than projecting the Tunis canopy scene onto every Hausa performance.
Origins & earliest records
A. J. N. Tremearne combines interviews and descriptions of bori performances with comparative interpretation. These selected notices do not consistently name individual speakers; printed attributes are distinguished from his conjectures.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected notice in chapter XXVI, printed pp. 366–367; full chapter read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa
Chapter XXVI, printed pp. 366–367; complete spirit notice, song and attributed relationships.
Family, evolution & connections
Six children in one Yerima youth account
The second account on p366, with individual notices through p371; not a consensus Bori family.
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- Kaura
- Sa’idi
- Ba-Jin-Chiwu (alternative father: Sarikin Rafi)
Attributed six-child list, corroborating Mai-Lema song and explicit twin notice. Ba-Jin-Chiwu alternatively has Sarikin Rafi as father. Geshe is explicitly Kaura’s foster-father. The first account’s different four-child placement list is not merged here; its wording does not independently establish all birth parents. Mothers are generally unstated except the twins’ unnamed concubine mother.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Digitized historical ethnographic accountTremearne — Mai-LemaResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Historical ritual performance photographKhadejia represents Mai-Lema at the centre of the canopy group in photograph55, 1914
The caption identifies Khadejia as Mai-Lema at the centre, surrounded by companions beneath the canopy. It expressly says the standing people are not possessed. This records a historically named human representation, not an image of a supernatural body.