Pair of ritual staffs "edan oshugbo" ·  Nigéria, Yoruba · ID: 3033333

Description

brass, iron, kneeling figures, male/female, holding items, mounted on iron poker, collection number “10” in red paint on the back, min. dam., minor missing parts, slight 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.

Littérature comparée

Witte, Hans, Earth and the Ancestors, Amsterdam 1988, pl. 8