Pair of ritual staffs "edan oshugbo" · Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3033903
not available anymore
Provenance
Theo A.H.M. Dobbelmann, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsSize
H: 20 cm resp. 20,5 cm
H: 7.9 inch resp. 8.1 inch
Description
brass, partly encrusted patina, nearly identical kneeling figures, male/female, mounted on iron spike, min. dam., fissures, traces of corrosion, on wooden base;
“ogboni” is a secret society of the Yoruba, also called “oshugbo”. The best known “oshugbo” object is the “edan oshugbo”, a pair of bronze images male/female mounted on iron spikes, linked by an iron chain. These figures belong to individual “oshugbo” members who - after approval by an “oshugbo” official - the “apena” - take them home afer their initiation into the “oshugbo” cult. They are kept on the family shrine and they are danced on special occasions.
Comparing literature
Witte, Hans, Earth and the Ancestors: Ogboni Iconography, Amsterdam 1988, p. 56 f., ill. 5