Omani Sayf/Saif

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

I believe you are correct here Jim, in that modern Omani swords are currently produced purely for display and dancing type purposes. Here is a fairly recent picture of Prince Charles (now King Charles) in Oman with such a sword. It looks pretty simple, light and quite flimsy suitable for dancing...

Thank you Colin!!! This is a PERFECT photo, and you can see the lightweight
blades. These are exactly what what used for the Razha ceremony, which was the sword 'dance'. Apparently part of this is having participants holding the swords vertically and vibrating the blades in unison, with large number at once, a notable sound from what I have understood.

These very simplistic swords were of the same basis form as the more ornamental counterparts that have been discussed with more elaborate decoration and using the substantial European blades. While of course they could be used in defense or other expected use, the likelihood that they were seems incidental. In most cases they simply were worn by merchants, slavers and officials as status symbols.

It has been a long haul trying to establish that with these conical hilt Omani swords, the old 'Highlander' movie adage, "there can be only one" does not apply