Tim that is a viable suggestion as what we are dealing with is the stylized and often temporal interpretations of spiritual concepts and beliefs.
I think Ausjulius' idea is well placed and looking back to discussions in which he was a key contributor back in 2009 showed his keen interest in these areas.
The Dahomean hwi and the varied types of 'ada' swords of the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria seem to have many variations of 'themed' ceremonial swords. In many cases they were stylistically like many of the actual weapons used, however many were so artistically oriented that they would not have been feasible as battle weapons.
In many cases, the artistic styling might be subtle, as it would seem possibly pertaining to the example we are discussing.
In reading through some posts it was noted that another symbolic element in Dahomean regions was the shark (see the cutlass illustrated below with bifurcated tip and handle).
The plate of hwi examples is from "Sabers Decores du Dahomey" Palau Marti, Objets du Mondes, VII: 4, 1967.
The hwi shown with briquet hilt illustrates the interpolation of colonial weapons with tribal blades as often the case in ethnographic weapons. While initially thought this was of course a French briquet, it was found actually this was German (by regimental marks on hilt). While French colonized most of these West African areas, the Germans were present in Togo.
|