amulet/ leg rattle; iron leg rattle w/ two lobes containing rattling material; two iron rings attached at one end; max w. 6.8 cm.
Donor:
Joan Wescott
Collection place:
Nigeria
Verbatim coll. place:
Africa; Nigeria; Yoruba attr.
Culture or time period:
Yoruba
Collector:
Joan Wescott
Collection date:
unknown
Materials:
Iron (metal)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Amulets
Function:
5.2 Magic: Objects Associated with Practices reflecting confidence in the ability to manipulate supernatural agencies
Accession date:
July 25, 1989
Context of use:
rattle for 'abiku' put on child to keep track of it. 'Abiku' = a child that keeps being reborn, literally 'born to die'. these leg rattles are put on these children and larger ones are worn as the child grows. see excerpt from Johnson's THE HISTORY OF THE YORUBAS (in acc. env.). also see 5-15424 (formerly Bascom 1996). the amulet/ leg rattle is placed on a child born to a woman who lost several children in infancy.