Divination hammers

Many of these hammers of percussion or hammers of “gong” or divinatory besides serving to beat the drums or bells are objects used in divination rituals. They mark the rhythms that lead to divinatory trances. The eat, the fortune teller hits the gong or the drum, the bell or other objects that produce sonority so that this rhythmically produced sound favors contact with the spirits, who possess him and enters into a trance state. There are two types of percussion hammers: Kokow: purely utilitarian and without any aesthetic quality. Lawle: Delicately sculpted, with carefully chiseled ornaments. The decoration of these hammers is varied: Figures zoomorphs, female characters, male sacred masks or figures of ancestor. Many hammers are decorated with a Bo Num Amwin mask which is a sacred male mask, spitter of fire. They often constitute true works of art.