• Source: Ada and Abere

The Ada and Abere are state swords of authority in Yorubaland.
State swords have been used for centuries to represent the ancient rights bestowed from Ife to various Yoruba, Yoruboid, and neighbouring groups, including the Fon, Ga, and Benin Kingdom.




Àdá


Veneration of Ògún

As seen in the Orisha tradition, the Yoruba greatly revere their departed ancestors, and as such, have the belief that prayers offered to them are potent to procure temporal blessings. Ogun, one of the earliest kings of Ife, is venerated as the spirit of metal work and as a primordial Orisha of creativity, warfare, and technology. One of the most important objects in the cult of Ogun is the ceremonial Ada sword. This ceremonial sword is dedicated to him and is known by the name Ada-Ogun. Ogun devotees are afforded traditional respect in some courts which permit them to swear by a piece iron, in the same manner that Christians and Muslims swear to the Bible and the Quran.

In the royal palace and among the highest-ranking military officials of the neighboring Fon kingdom of Dahomey such as the Migan (chief councillor), the Ada took the forms of the Hwi and Gubasa which were mandatory among the Fon in the coronation of every ruler. These swords were introduced from Ife and had to be reconsecrated in the Yoruba sacred city before its investment in a new ruler. The Dahomean King Glele adopted the Gubasa for his coat of arms, the blade was pierced with holes whose shape signified Ogun.
Descendants of Oduduwa
One of the most renowned state swords is the Ida-Oranyan (Oranyan's Sword), named after the legendary founder of the Oyo Empire and the Benin Kingdom. Whenever a new Alaafin was to be crowned, they were expected to send to perform acts of worship at the grave of Oduduwa and receive benediction. Oranyan's Sword of Justice, after being consecrated at Ife, was then to be brought and ceremoniously placed in their hands. Without this being done, the king would have no authority to order an execution. In this practice the Sword of Justice symbolised the authority to make judgments over life and death.
A similar coronation took place whenever the Alaafin sought to give authority to representatives in his empire, he would give a sword of justice to the would be kingling, who would have a direct connection to the throne.
The swords owned by Chiefs and Baales would only be displayed during festivals or special occasions.


As the Alaafin of Oyo derived his sacred authority from the sword of justice delivered from Ife, so too did the Oba of Benin have his consecration by way of brass coronation objects from the Ooni of Ife.
In the Benin kingdom and several Yoruba kingdoms with intimate royal and trade relations, the Ada was used in a public manner to project the authority of the State Monarch.The Oba of Benin, the Olowo Of Owo, and the Olu of Warri, are among the kings who had a swordbearer carrying an Ada wherever they went.
The Ada, Ida, Agada, Uda all contain a common Yoruba verb, dá. The swords come in both ceremonial and regular forms, and their various shapes likely developed through their use in war.




Abẹ̀rẹ̀



An Abere is a Yoruba word for a state sword said to be used by kings of different tribes.




= Linguistic divergence and Name variations

=
Cyril Punch in his visit to the king of Benin in 1889, documented the use of a fan-like blade being twirled in the hands of chiefs during a ceremony. In his illustrations, he labelled and referred to the object as an “Ebere”. While his account contains the earliest known written name of the sword in the Benin kingdom, this type of object is more commonly known today as an “Eben” by the Edo people. On the other hand, among the Urhobo, one of the largest neighbours who derived certain aristocratic titles from the Benin royal court, people still know and remember the same sword by the name Abere(n).
A divergence in names for the same object is not all that unexpected as lexical borrowings over time adapt to the phonology (pronunciation) of the receiving language. Moreover, even within the Yoruba dialects, the Owo people for example refer to their ceremonial fan-blade as an “Ape”.




Archaeology


Whether for ceremonial use, or for conventional use, it is evident that swords across these cultures have taken on varied identities, and many early oral traditions point to Ife as a source of their royal authority. Archaeological discoveries of ancient sword carvings in rock as well as stone sculptures belonging to the period of early Ife monuments have been found in Ife and its immediate surroundings. One such example is the Ada Eledisi (The Sword of Eledisi) in Ife.
Another figure from the site of Igbo Orodi was sculpted holding a curved sword in its left hand and an Irukere (fly whisk) in its right with iron pegs on its body like the granite Oranmiyan staff in Ife




See also


Ife empire
Oyo empire
Fon people
Benin Kingdom
Attribution:

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.




References

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