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King's Crown



Background:

King's Crown
King's Crown
King's Crown
19th century
Beads, leather, canvas, and wicker
The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund

Key Ideas
Story
Background

The Yoruba
Crowns
King's Crown
Projection
Birds
Face
Veil

Discussion Questions

The Yoruba
The Yoruba peoples of West Africa have lived in the southwestern area of what are now Nigeria and the Republic of Benin (BE-neen) since the 11th century. The earliest Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo (oh-YO) spread over vast territories. Divine kings, descendants of Oduduwa, ruled these kingdoms, advised by councils of elders and chiefs. As part of their royal REGALIA, kings wore distinctive beaded veiled crowns.

Crowns
The beaded veiled crown, called adenla ("great crown"), is more than a symbol of kingship. Each crown embodies ideals of political and personal stability, refuge for the oppressed, salvation, and much more. Worn only on ceremonial occasions, the crown gave the king the power to communicate with his spirit ancestors in order to benefit his people. At other times it was kept on display and given the same respect and attention as the king himself. Because these crowns hold so much power, they are among the most sacred Yoruba objects.


Beginning in the 1830s, civil wars disrupted the Yoruba kingdoms. From the 1890s until the 1960s, British and French interference further challenged traditional Yoruba ways. In this climate of political upheaval, Yoruba leaders without official claims to kingship began to commission and wear veiled crowns. Although the sacred powers of Yoruba kings are limited today, disputes still rage over the rights to wear veiled crowns.

King's Crown
This 19th-century king's crown is made of thousands of tiny brightly colored glass beads. Many features of this crown are characteristic of nearly all sacred Yoruba crowns.

Roll over the image to see specific attributes from the King's Crown

Projection Birds Face Veil

Projection
A tall striped projection, perhaps representing a hairstyle, stands above the face. Among some Yoruba, projections from the heads of special individuals signify spiritual power. The projection on this crown once contained a pouch of herbal medicines that gave the crown its power. For fear he would be blinded, even the king could not look inside his own crown.

Birds
Sixteen colorful beaded birds surround the king's crown. These birds signify a divine force called áshe (ah-SHE)—the power to make things happen—which only the highest Yoruba men and women possess. The birds connote the áshe of the king and of a group of elderly women called "the mothers" who support him.1 The mothers' special power enables them to turn into night birds who punish or destroy those who are arrogant, selfish, or otherwise immoral. On the crown, the birds symbolize the king's power and the mothers' power to protect him and the people.

Face
A great yellow face dominates the crown. Its black-and-white almond-shaped eyes, yellow nose, and oval blue mouth are raised from the surface. The three vertical lines on either side of the nose are scars denoting the king's lineage. The face represents a royal ancestor of the king, probably Oduduwa, and unites the spirit world of the ancestors with the earthly world of the king and his people.

Veil
The most distinctive feature of this crown is the veil of beads that once cascaded over the king's face. A net of black, white, maroon, and blue beads is surrounded by multicolored strands of beads. The veil obscured the king's features to protect men and women from looking directly at his face when he was united with his powerful ancestors.

1 Robert Farris Thompson, "Ashé: The-Power-to-Make-Things-Happen," Parabola: Magazine of Myth and Tradition, 17, no. 4 (1992): pp. 86-89. Return to Text

Key Ideas Story Background Discussion Questions
 
 

 

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