Tribe: Yoruba
Country: Nigeria
Material: Wood, Pigment, Beads
Size: 22" (57.15 cm) Tall
Condition: Good

The Y-shaped Shango staff forms, sculpted in relief, are used in special festivals and processions, followers of Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, carry dance wands, called oshe shango, depicting a female devotee with Shango's symbol, the double-headed axe. Shango is thought to control the great powers of nature as one of the orisha, or gods.

Shango, who controls thunder, is associated with the expansion of the Oyo empire in western Yorubaland. The historical personage Shango was a descendant of Oranmiyan and the tyrannical fourth king of Oyo. Oral traditions maintain that he was despot, coerced into surrendering his crown and committing suicide. His supporters denied his death and declared that he had become a god, merged with the forces of thunder and lightning, which they call down on their enemies. The Shango legend illustrates a significant aspect of Yoruba orisha: they are not idealized.

Shango was a sacred king but he can still be presented as a remorseless despot whose need for control overstepped the boundries suitable to political authority. In his attempt to control mystical and magical powers, he was unable to master them, and was eventually controlled by them. Once a mortal, Shango did not die, but he commands great powers of nature as an orisha. In dreadful storms he hurls flashes of lightning upon those who do not respect him. These thunderbolts take the form of ancient stone axes that are exposed on the surface of the earth after heavy rains.

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