Yoruba Shango Staff

Carved wooden ceremonial staff featuring a female figure holding a gourd beneath a double-headed axe symbol.

Unrecorded Yoruba artist, Shango Staff with Female Figure Holding Gourd, undated, wood, 13 in. tall, Mead Art Museum.

Description

The Shango Staff with Female Figure Holding Gourd is a carved wood piece about two feet tall. Most of the surface is a deep dark‑brown with some spots that have faded to a light clay color along rounded edges. Faint blue stains appear on the left side of her face, on both sides of the left axe blade, and on the right profile, hinting at past contact with other materials. Two axe‑shaped blades rise at the very top. They curve slightly upward and meet at their lower ends, leaving open space between them. A bell‑like form sits under the axes and keeps them together. Its upper rim is trimmed with short vertical cut lines arranged like a small rainbow. Just below, a round platform rests on the figure’s head, much like a person balancing a load. The woman’s head is long with bold features. Each cheek shows three short vertical lines. She has a wide mouth and a projecting nose. Around her neck hangs a beaded collar that reaches the breasts, which point outward in a cone shape. Below, the short figure hugs a gourd about the size of a honeydew melon. Her left hand supports its base, while the right steadies the top, which has a tiny lid. Thick bracelet bands ring both arms.

From her torso, wide hips taper into short legs that blend into a long, smooth column. This column forms the staff and shows a small flat cut at the back, while the front stays whole. Bead strands circle her hips; the gourd hides them in front, but they stand out in side and rear views. On her back, the neck beads continue and end in a diamond‑shaped pendant set between the shoulders. A straight crack crosses the left breast, another splits the left arm above the bracelets, and a third marks the left ear. Two more run between the breasts and along the left axe blade.

Analysis of Shango in Yoruba Culture

Although created by an unknown artist and undated according to the Mead Museum, the Shango staff was likely created by a Yoruba artist, most likely a member of a hereditary carving guild in southwestern Nigeria. Yoruba carvers were highly respected in their communities and often worked in family-based workshops where skills were passed down through generations. These artists specialized in sacred and ceremonial objects, and their work was deeply embedded in the religious and social practices of the time.1

The medium used is hardwood, commonly selected for its strength and fine grain, which allowed for detailed carving and long-term ritual use. This particular Shango staff is part of the collection at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. It was a gift from Evan Maurer, Amherst Class of 1966. Maurer is a respected scholar of African and Native American art and formerly served as director of both the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.2

The ceremonial staff, known as oshe Shango, is closely connected to Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder, lightning, and divine justice.3 While the staff itself does not directly represent the deity directly, it is a devotee who serves as a symbolic and spiritual connection to Shango. The double-headed axe at the top resembles a bolt of lightning and acts as a visual link to the sudden force and power of storms, which are central to Shango’s domain.4 In Yoruba visual culture, physical forms usually have spiritual meanings associated with them.5

The central figure carved into the staff is one of these intermediaries. She is not Shango himself, but a worshipper who has been trained and prepared to receive the spirit of Shango through religious ceremony and ritual possession.6 In Yoruba religious practice, gods are believed to enter the world through their devotees. These trained individuals—often priests, priestesses, or chosen members of the community—take part in possession trances during ceremonies. In these states, they embody the orisha, offering guidance, warnings, and blessings on the deity’s behalf.7 The figure on the staff is depicted in this sacred role: a human vessel prepared to carry the force of divine energy. Her adornments—necklaces, hip beads, and bracelets—signal her elevated ritual status.8 She holds a closed gourd, which in Yoruba culture is a powerful symbol. Gourds are used to hold medicines, water, charms, or sacred substances. They represent containment, fertility, and spiritual authority.9 In this context, the gourd likely signifies her role as a vessel for Shango’s energy—ready to contain, carry, or release it as needed. The gourd, like the devotee herself, is not powerful on its own—it becomes powerful through what it holds.

The staff also reflects the Yoruba idea of dualism. Visible forms stand in for invisible forces. The female figure is not simply a person carved in wood; she represents the spiritual medium where gods meet people. Through her, the storm is not just seen or heard—it is interpreted, responded to. Devotees like her help maintain balance in the community. They teach, mediate, and carry the burden of divine power so that others may live in harmony. In this way, the Shango is much more than a ceremonial object. It is a tool for connection between the human and the divine. 

Weather and Shango

The Shango staff does not show the weather the way we might expect. There are no clouds, raindrops, or storms. Instead, weather is shown through symbols and spiritual meaning. The double-headed axe at the top represents lightning, and the entire staff connects to thunder, storms, and the presence of Shango. If lightning strikes or thunder booms, it might be because Shango is active—or maybe he’s trying to get people’s attention. Rain can even be seen as a blessing when the community is in need. Shango is not just a god who controls the weather. He is the weather.10

In Yoruba belief, weather is deeply tied to divine will. It is not seen as neutral or background. Thunder, lightning, and storms are understood as Shango’s presence made real—expressions of his judgment, anger, or favor. A violent thunderclap might signal punishment for wrongdoing, while steady rain may be taken as a blessing in times of drought.11 These moments are not simply observed—they are experienced as divine communication. This is especially important given that Shango is considered a “hot” orisha—temperamental, powerful, and quick to anger.12 His dramatic nature means that intermediaries—human devotees—play a vital role in managing his presence and translating his messages to the community.

In class, we talked about how weather is usually represented with things people see every day—like sunshine, wind, or clouds. But this staff works differently. It is not something one interacts with all the time. Instead, it becomes meaningful in certain moments—when you hear thunder or see lightning. Those moments make people remember what the staff stands for. It is a kind of weather representation not about daily life, but about unusual, powerful experiences.

Footnotes

  1. Henry John Drewal, John Pemberton III, and Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought (The Center for African Art, 1990), 150–180. ↩︎
  2. See “Art from Africa: A Selection of Works Given by Amherst Collectors and Scholars,” Mead Art Museum, https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/exhibitions/2016/africa. ↩︎
  3. Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun, Yoruba, 15. ↩︎
  4. Margaret Thompson Drewal, “Art and Trance among Yoruba Shango Devotees,” African Arts 20, no. 1 (1986): 60. ↩︎
  5. Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun, Yoruba, 14. ↩︎
  6. Ibid., 15. ↩︎
  7. Drewal, “Art and Trance,” 61. ↩︎
  8. Michael Olaniyi Ajadi, “Identification and Stylistic Analysis of the Artistic Expression on Opa, Yoruba Sculptural Verges,” Yoruba Studies Review 8, no. 1 ( 2023): 175. ↩︎
  9. Emma Christina Rice, “Re-Thinking the Calabash; Yoruba Women as Containers,” Leeds African Studies Bulletin 78 (2016/17), https://lucas.leeds.ac.uk/article/re-thinking-the-calabash-emma-christina-rice/ ↩︎
  10. Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy, (New York: Vintage, 1984); Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun, Yoruba. ↩︎
  11. Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun, Yoruba; Drewal, “Art and Trance.” ↩︎
  12. Ibid.,15. ↩︎