“Ogboni art is, in this essential sense, an art of dialogue. There is no sense in which the edan functions apart from the person of the member.”

—Denis Williams, The Iconology of the Yoruba "edan Ogboni"
 

These edan Ogboni are a pair of nearly identical anthropomorphic brass staves, joined by a chain at their heads and differentiated by sex only. They are made by and for members of the Yoruba Ogboni society, a secret organization for male elders, which originated in the southwest region of Nigeria.

The edan staffs are traditionally created by an Ogboni akedanwaiye, a brasscaster, who carefully models them in clay and, after placing them by a hearth to dry, makes various libations. During the casting period, he often sacrifices small animals like pigeons, tortoises, and snails, and includes their representations in the design of the edan figures. From the lower body of the female figure, it appears that a leaf, perhaps from a Flacourtia tree, was included in the casting of, and libations to, this edan.

Each set of staffs is unique, and is gifted to a new Ogboni member at the end of an elaborate initiation process. Through this careful initiation process, the edan become spiritually charged as an expression of Ogboni life-values; they concretize a member’s relationship with the Earth-principle, Ile, and the Earth-spirit Onile. Throughout his life, the member relies on the edan as a sacred materialization of this unalterable relational bond.

When the owner dies, the edan pair is spiked in the earth, with one figure placed beside each of the member’s temples while the chain spans the forehead. During this final ceremony, the Earth-spirit Onile is summoned to act as the liaison for the transfer of the member’s immortal spirit back to the Ogboni society. The staffs remain in position until just before the funeral. The edan Ogboni are never buried with the deceased but, in most cases, are returned to the Ogboni society.

Our research team gives special thanks to Denis Williams, Guyanese painter and archaeologist, from whose work we have drawn immeasurable information and insight.