Oba's crown

Ade in Yorubaland are elaborate conical head gears that feature a heavily beaded veil and fringes that shields or obscure the face.

[4][5] In his article on the topic, Robert F. Thompson writes, "The crown incarnates the intuition of royal ancestral force, the revelation of great moral insight in the person of the king, and the glitter of aesthetic experience.

These include a mask referred to as the “dog-eared-one” (abetíajá), which is worn in such a way that the faces are oriented sideways, and smaller hats shaped like pillboxes, European crowns, and coronets.

Babatunde Lawal writes: "Other crowns were influenced by European style lawyers' wigs, reflecting the radical changes that occurred in Yorubaland between the late nineteenth century and 1960, when the kings lost much of their political power to French and British colonial administrations.

It recalls how Odùduwà, assisted by a mythical bird, created habitable land on the primordial waters at Ilé Ifè, where he eventually became the first king.

Finally, it alludes to a mystical power (àse) that Olòdúmarè reportedly gave to the first female (in the form of a bird enclosed in a calabash), thus allowing her to counterbalance the muscular advantage of men.

This explains why the Ìyá Oba (Official Mother of the King) crowns a new monarch in some towns — to underscore the fact that he has the support of the women.

One of these ancient stories states that before he died, Oduduwa, the founder and first king of the Yoruba people, gave a beaded crown to each of his sons and sent them forth to establish their own kingdoms.

In fact, only a select few in Yoruba society are permitted to wear or use beaded objects, including kings, chiefs, princes, priests, diviners and native doctors.

[9] Bead embroidery is practiced by extremely skilled men in a number of Nigerian centers, especially at Efon-Alaye, Ile-Ife, Oyo, Ilesha, Abeokuta, and Iperu-Remo.

To wear neck beads (kele) in contrasting shades of red (pupa) and white (funfun) signifies both the punitive and the healing presence of Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder.