My Flyssa Daggers

[Dom]

Originally Posted by chregu

Thank you for your response Dom
I was just amazed, within two years a second shell-decorated Flyssa find.
look here http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11836
greeting Chregu

hi Chregu
if you studied what said "wikipedia" about "cowries"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowry
- a currency in Africa.
- The Ghanaian unit of currency known as the Ghanaian cedi was named after cowry shells.
- cowry shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency.
- They were also used as means of exchange in India.
- The Classical Chinese character for money(貝) originated as a stylized drawing of a cowrie shell.
- The Ojibway aboriginal people in North America use cowry shells which are called sacred Miigis Shells or whiteshells in Midewiwin ceremonies,
and the Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba, Canada is named after this type of shell.
- Cowry shells were among the devices used for divination by the Kaniyar Panicker astrologers of Kerala, India.
- Cowry shells are also worn as jewelry or otherwise used as ornaments or charms.
- They are viewed as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth.
- The symbolism of the cowry shell is associated with the appearance of its underside:
the lengthwise opening makes the shell look like a vulva or an eye.
- Cowry shells are sometimes used in a way similar to dice
- in divination (cf. Ifá and the annual customs of Dahomey of Benin).
- On the Fiji Islands, a shell of the golden cowry or bulikula, Cypraea aurantium, was drilled at the ends and worn on a string around the neck by chieftains as a badge of rank.
- Large cowry shells such as that of Cypraea tigris have been used in Europe in the recent past as a frame over which sock heels were stretched for darning.

as you may see, their popularity is covering roughly all continents

some months ago, I found, loose close to our house, an handkerchief (clean) containing at least 15 or 18 "cowry",
but my wife, who believe on ... divination, without to informed me, has deposited some where (?), the handkerchief and the shells, too scare to keep it at home

à +

Dom

[Dom]

by the same opportunity, here my collection concerning, only "flissa"
all questions and comments are welcomed

à +

Dom

[mrwizard]

Impressive collection, Dom!

Do you consider the dagger in the lower right corner to be a flyssa.
I thought these things were mostly ceremonial (wedding nimcha).
btw. here is a photo of the only specimen i own (which looks more like a flyssa)... :-)

[Dom]

Originally Posted by mrwizard

Do you consider the dagger in the lower right corner to be a flyssa.
I thought these things were mostly ceremonial (wedding nimcha).
btw. here is a photo of the only specimen i own (which looks more like a flyssa)... :-)

Hi mrwizard
you noticed the "flyssa" in the lower right corner, and you are intrigued
- it's really a "souvenir dagger"
- "souvenir" dated 1876,
- purchased in "Fort National" (capitale for Great Kabylie, know in our days as Tizi-Ouzou)
- by a French military; Ansel Francois, soldier the 8th battalion of "Chasseur" (hunter)
I was myself "Sgt" in this precise battalion in the 60th
you may understand my particular attraction for this "Kabyle dagger"
nothing is invented, all is engraving on the scabbard

your flissa is just amazing, I never saw with a similar handle

all the best

à +

Dom

[mrwizard]

Originally Posted by Dom

your flissa is just amazing, I never saw with a similar handle

Yes, isn't it? Looking at the workmanship our "flyssas" might be from
the same workshop

Best regards
Thilo

[Dom]

Originally Posted by mrwizard

Yes, isn't it? Looking at the workmanship our "flyssas" might be from the same workshop

Thilo,
Emanuel wrote an interesting chapter about flissa
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11477

and give some indications about who was manufacturing flissa; 1 tribe only
but better to read the post

à +

Dom

[Emanuel]

Hi there,

The strange handle can be seen on other flyssa/nimcha variants, and on some "Berber" sabres and shula/s'boula daggers as well.

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1362

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2002

Camille Lacoste Desjardins writes in her article "Sabres Kabyles" that these small flyssa-like daggers date post-1950 or so. Algiers and much of the hinterland was taken by the French in 1830, and in 1850 the French imposed a ban on weapon manufacture. Kabylia surrendered a few years alter in 1857. By then the large flyssa were no longer being made, but part of the industry continued for the smaller types, sought after by the new French colonists. While they were very well made with good blades and quality decoration, quality gradually went down until they essentially became the "wedding nimchas" with blades cut from sheet metal. I'm not sure exactly where this happened. It likely started with the Kabyle flyssa, then might have had a bit of a back and forth with Morocco. The shula/s'boula was probably an intermediary step.
This is conjecture though...Dom you may have a better sense of where the different types were available.

Emanuel