Osogan, the Osun Staff for Priests and Doctors

About the interview
Object ContextHistorical Figure

This interview provides answers to the following question: What is Osogan in Benin? What material is it made with and what is it used for? Osogan is the staff of the office of an accomplished Osun priest, the deity or god of medicine that is responsible for the spiritual growth of physicians, doctors and sometimes diviners. Here the interviewee stated that the Osogan is made from iron, and the icons and images on them are birds (birds of the night or ahianmwẹ n’ọkhua) which are symbols that signify the esoteric and spiritual sides of Benin cosmology.

About the contributors

Referenced in this interview

Sensitive Content

Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here