Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Freddy · 14th September 2006, 07:13 PM

Beautiful axes, Luc !

I love African axes. (and knives, and swords, and spears.....)

My wife allows me to have 1 room in the house. The other rooms are 'off limit' when it concerns etnic weaponry. I could use some more room, though

Have you counted the heads on your Songye axes ?

In the book 'Standing on Ceremony' a similar axe is shown. The author says that it's a chieftain's ceremonial axe. The small heads on the blade symbolize representations of subordinates.
He also attributes this kind of axe to the Nsapo people, a Songye sub-tribe.

Here is my Songye/Nsapo axe. It counts 42 heads (! ! !) and it's top heavy.

14th September 2006, 07:13 PM	#9
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	Beautiful axes, Luc ! I love African axes. (and knives, and swords, and spears.....) My wife allows me to have 1 room in the house. The other rooms are 'off limit' when it concerns etnic weaponry. I could use some more room, though Have you counted the heads on your Songye axes ? In the book 'Standing on Ceremony' a similar axe is shown. The author says that it's a chieftain's ceremonial axe. The small heads on the blade symbolize representations of subordinates. He also attributes this kind of axe to the Nsapo people, a Songye sub-tribe. Here is my Songye/Nsapo axe. It counts 42 heads (! ! !) and it's top heavy.