Edan Ogboni couple

The Ogboni society, eS without a doubt,the one that has exerted the greatest influence among the Yorubaboth from its religious function and from its political and judicial power. Although they constituted the largest judicial power of the Yorubasince they could judge those who had managed to circumvent the public judicial powers, their primary function was the custody and safeguarding of Ife's oracle. The priests of the secret society Ogboni, guardians of the laws and of the divine oracle, consulted the oracle when it came to, for example, such sensitive issues as the support of ancestors for real power. The Ogboni, a real counter-power, were a balance to curb the omnimode power of the king whom they could dismiss if the situation forced him to do so.

Since the harassment they suffered in colonial times and since the independence of Nigeria, members of Ogboni society have little influence in the country, they no longer play any official role, except in some regions where the traditional administration retains some influence, such as the states of Oyo and Osun, where they still exercise a power of intimidation.

Although with clear dominance of men Ogboni society was equally open to women. Neither men nor women could reveal the secrets of society and its rites without endangering their lives, they must remain absolutely secret.

The Ogboni venerated Mother Earth from which the vital strength of the community came. The emblem of society, used by the initiates in their ceremonies, is the Edan, brass statuettes made by the procedure of lost wax, male and female, joined by a chain, whose limbs carried around the neck falling on the chest. The chain means the bond of union between members of the same group. In fact, although there are two characters, they are a single person and their double of the opposite sex. This duality in the Yoruba social structure assumes that the male element is symbolically completed by the female element. These figures are a symbol of dignity, humility, wisdom, respect, and submission while signifying the interdependence between man and woman. It is also a symbol of longevity, like the metal from which they are formed.

Both characters are touched with a ceremonial hat and carry the symbols of the Ogboni society to which they belong. A great scarification part of the corners of the woman's lips. The man wears a small collar beard. In their hands they carry, as a scepter, anthropomorphic figures, double that of the husband, possibly an allegory to the marriage bond. Time skate.