Political motivation and oral historical traditions in Africa: The case of Yoruba crowns, 1900-1960

Abstract

IntroductionRoyal symbols vary from one monarchical culture to another. In Europe, particularly in England, Netherlands and pre-1789 France, royalty was marked by the sovereign's exclusive use of the crown and the sceptre. In Africa, the continent with perhaps the most ancient monarchical traditions, the variation of symbols is especially remarkable. The pharaohs of Egypt, whose model is held by some scholars to have inspired kingly institutions elsewhere in Africa, Europe and Asia, were distinguished by their metal crowns and special sandals. In Ashanti the hene, while he might wear a distinguishing cap, looked more to his ‘stool’, often adorned with beads or (as in the case of the Ashantehene himself) gold, as the most important royal emblem, the seat on which had sat all his predecessors in office. In ancient Dahomey, on the other hand, the king wore no special head dress; and although the throne was an important royal emblem, there was nothing to compare with the rigidly impersonal and ritualistic concept of the throne as found in Ashanti, since every reign usually had its own particular throne dedicated to it. In Fon monarchy, where royal authority was more ideologically conceived, as seen in the perforated pot symbolism, the royal personage was, remarkably, of very ordinary appearance, apart from his large retinue, his aristocratically longish pipe, and a hand-axe across his shoulder.