Pair of "eshu" dance staffs · Nigeria, Yoruba, Ede · ID: 3051074
sold
EUR 1,700
Provenance
Erwin & Susanne Melchardt, Vienna, AustriaSize
H: 28 cm (figures) / 61 cm (with cowrie strands)
H: 11.0 inch (figures) / 24.0 inch (with cowrie strands)
Description
wood, hide, cowrie snails, base
These figures are worn round the neck of female worshippers of “eshu” (the “trickster” god) so that they hang upside down over the breasts of the devotee and are more or less hidden among the strands of cowries.
Cowries were formerly used as money. The fact that “eshu hides behind cowries”, as the Yoruba say, indicates that the trickster is present in all money transactions, especially on the market, where strangers come into contact with each other and quarrels may easily arise.
Comparing literature
Witte, Hans, Ifa and Esu, Soest-Holland 1984, p. 109