Kru Money Revisited

Above is a 7" brass ring known as NITIEN or 'water spirit' sometimes called Kru Money, said to possess certain powers, typically 2" to 12" in diameter, found in the territory occupied by the Kru/Grebo/Dida and other ethnic groups belonging to the Kru language groups in Liberia and Cote D'Ivoire.

A year ago, I posted a selection of these ring along with an inquiry seeking to elicit more information on this predecessor's website AFRO-DIT. Unfortunately, I got very lttle response, and when that website's contents were transferred to TribalArtForum the thread was deleted.
Yet in the meantime, I have expanded my knowledge of Kru/Grebo ethnography in particular and traditional West African religion in general, so that I believe these rings can indeed be understood in their proper cultural context. Since I posted my initial inquiry here, it's only proper I post what appears to be the expanation for these rings as well...after a brief review of the previously posted material.







There are only 4 significant references which comment on these rings, and about 10 which show a photo with no comment, and a handful which offer one-line comments with no photo.

-Bronzes et Autres Alliages by Andre Blandin( pub in France)

-Art De La Cote D'Ivoire .see Elze Bruyninx chapters(Belgium)

-Rock of the Ancestors by William Siegmann (Liberia)

-Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, George Schwab with significant
input from George Harley

The last title by far is the best, as Schwab devotes several pages describing them. He reported that the Kru deem these ring to be actually alive, possessing certain powers such as to heal, protect, capture, even found villages. Yet they can be captured also ,usually when found playing near streams where it is thought they can lead one to hidden gold. Once caught, they would be kept in the house of the Bodio ( ritual priest) whose office serves to protect the spiritual health of the community. The rings can also die, in which case they might be kept as trophies, or occasionally be used as part of dowry payments, so in that sense "Kru money". (Another writer, Horatio Bridge reports seeing them being made, and used as standard currencies but I have reason to doubt that he was referring to these rings.)

The three rings above collected by Schwab can be seen in the Peabody's museum online collection along with 1,200 other items from Liberia.
The ring on the left below is from the American Museum of Natural History, online African collection. The ring below right is currently housed in the Seattle Museum of Art and can be seen in their online collection,although this photo is from AFRICAN TRIBAL IMAGES by William Fagg, and catalogues the Katherine White Collection.





And below left is fine ring from the Henry Collection which can also be seen online along with a better example at http://www.henrycollection.org/ (scroll to ingots). The massive ring on the right below weighing 40 lbs is from an article in NOTES AFRICAINES 110 April 1966.





Even in 1928 when Schwab was touring the Liberian hinterland there were very few people who could, or more likely would, comment on the proper significance of these rings leading him to report that the rings were made by others who lived in the territory before the Kru arrived, which would mean more than 400+ years ago, or by the Portuguese. Somewhat doubtful since these rings have only been found in the territory of the wider Kru language group, and nowhere else touched by the Portuguese
I will will explain in my next post these ring's context within Kru/Grebo culture and Traditional West African Religion generally, where the varied use of bronze altar rings is quite well described. So I will close this post with an interesting quote by Merran Fraenkel in AFRICA vol XXXVI,NO 2 April 1966 p.161.

"The palaver yard is overgrown and the elders no longer take
their places there to hear cases. .. The Ji mwau ( priest's
house) is closed and crumbling into decay, and only the oldest
people can guess at the meaning of the ancient and neglected,
but still revered objects within it... the various forms of kpunga
or medicine which protected them...and the heavy bronze
rings which the ancestors are thought to have brought with
them on their long journey from the interior. "

As a point of clarification, I should mention that the 3rd and 4th rings in the previous post are only 3-4 inches in diameter and have been described being worn suspended from a string worn around the ankle or neck, whereas the last ring is 1 foot in diameter from point to point and weighs over 40 lbs and certainly cannot be worn . And two including the second are anklets.
I have communicated with two of the four authors listed in the previous post. Siegmann told me by phone that he had no further information to add to his great reference which was published in 1977, which presented comments very similar to Schwab's. Bruyninx who has described the morphology (but not the function )of some of these rings in her writing, offered no further information at all regarding their use. Some of her prior fieldwork in Liberia was devoted to studying brass-casting in the Upper Cavally region among the Dan and Guere. For an example of some the rings she has documented see the photos below. See http://www.siris.si.edu/ for a partial bibliography of some of her references.





In addition I have communicated briefly with several Liberian scholars including Svend Holsoe who is extraordinarily knowledgeable about Liberia, but unfortunately he could offer no information and referred me back to Professor Siegmann. Below is a photo on the cover of the Liberian Studies Journal of a large ring he collected and donated to Indiana University. One other Liberian scholar told me she was aware that these rings "were kept as medicine" in the hut of the Bodio. Another, states she was told cryptically they were a sort of "Kru compass".



Aside from the above, references in Liberian ethnographic literature of rings and anklets of any cultural significance are essentially non-existent, except for one notable exception: the iron anklet worn by the Bodio (ritual priest) worn as a sign of his authority, whose imprimateur came from a mountain oracle (there were a few) where a SPIRIT of great significance resided.
The missionary Agnes McAllister in her book A LONE WOMAN IN AFRICA (pub. 1896), related the tale of the Bodio who was accused of witch-craft and thus feared for his life and sought refuge with the missionary. When she urged him to flee to escape certain death, he lamented that he could not, because of the distinctive anklet that he wore, which he could not remove, and which would be instantly recognized by all. Unfortunately, McAllister did not describe the anklet, but quite a few other references have. It's described as made of iron threaded with a large fruit pit. ( See: Ethnographic Survey of the Grebo-by Kurtz/ Ethnographic Survey of SE Liberia: The Kran and Sapo by Schroder and Seibel/ the article mentioned in the last post by Merran Fraenkel, and at least 5 other texts. see also Ronald Wayne Davis) .
It is tempting to imagine that the large anklets seen in photos of the previous posting are more recent versions of these Bodio anklets but that would be pure conjecture , which could be verified only by proper field study (and a time-machine). I believe it is safe to say that in some way these bronze rings called Nitien are indeed certainly related to the office of the Bodio. and further that various statements about these heterogenous rings can be reconciled ( that is to say: they are all mostly correct) once a understanding of Kru/Grebo ethnography and themes in tradtional african religion are considered. That I will try to cover briefly in the next post an then I will quit.

Kru Rings

Hi Scott.
Thanks for this very engaging treatment of the kru rings. Considering they are such a distinctive genre, I find it interesting that so little is known about them - a characteristic that was aptly highlighted by your communications with other scholars. Though this is not an area that I have any familiarity with, it struck me that despite some general morphological similarities… some of these rings would seem to be potentially distinct types. For example some of them look more like apparel (bracelets, anklets etc.) in the sense that they would appear to be for wearing (such as the last 2 of the ones that were, I believe, part of the Schwab citation or the bodio anklets in the last post). Others especially the very big and heavy pieces seem to be something different altogether – a relatively immobile power object that is iconic, if not perhaps (?) the embodiment of some sort of animate entity. I was wondering if all these rings – from the bangle size to the colossal, served the same purpose in traditional Kru society, though perhaps that kind of detail has been lost with the passage of time.

Have you noticed any correlation between the context of a given ring – such as those belonging to a bodio’s status regalia or one that is a component of power objects kept in the bodio’s home and what metal that particular ring is made from? You mention brass, bronze and iron in the article so far. At least one of the pieces that looks like a bangle would appear to be brass, while some of the other rings including the more colossal ones would appear to be bronze or iron.

Who would make such an object in Kru society? By that I mean do Bodio have the skills to do this sort of metal work, or are there distinct blacksmith and metal working families who are responsible? I’m interested because I have observed that in many parts of the world the metal workers have a marginalized social status in the community, often at the same time being viewed as a group with certain occult aptitudes or proclivities - and hence threatening in some sense (hence the marginalization I suppose) . Often metal working and indeed iron working in particular have deep associations with occult aspects of traditional religion too ( I hope you or someone following this might be able to enlighten us as to whether or not this is the case in Africa). The thing that brought this to mind was the fact that you mentioned that such rings can be viewed as living entities, capable of various acts. That is Intriguing. Are they viewed as self originating, i.e. they just appear, or were they viewed as having been imbued with “life” during the casting process or afterward? As an aside, this sort of “sentient ritual object” is always very fascinating to me and besides the couple of examples I can think of… I suspect there might be numerous related examples from various cultures around the world, probably the most well known for metal objects being the Keris dagger tradition of Indonesia. And at this point I can't help but wonder about the nature of the Nitien water spirit. Is it reptilian, like the Naga in the Keris?

Anyway, I realize that you have made it clear that information is not easy to come by, and you mentioned that you would be addressing the cultural context in a later post, so please pardon my eager inquiries if these are things that you will be mentioning in an upcoming installment to this thread. It is a very interesting subject, so again, thank you for sharing your insights, much appreciated.

Steve Brothers

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your questions and your comments. It is indeed quite interesting to me that such a heterogeneous group of rings can all be seen as one corpus serving the same general function. Before getting to that, let me first respond to some of your other questions:

* According to Bruyninx no bronze (copper & tin) has ever been found in the Cavally region--only brass (copper & zinc). I believe this extends to Liberia as a whole. The significance is that brass is certainly imported (by sea or over the Sahara), whereas bronze would be presumably made in Africa. Making bronze suggest a certain level of metalurgic skill.

* Even by the 1930's the number of brasscasters could be counted on one hand..the tradition was almost dead. An example of one known brasscaster's work was posted in this website's Show & Tell section under:brass-figure. Go to http://www.siris.si.edu/ to review the various titles by Hans Himmelheber/Bruyninx/ Etta Becker-Donner/ Barbara C Johnson who have written about Liberian brass-casting.

* There are several excellent books (see THE MANDE BLACKSMITHS by McNaughton, and IRON,GENDER AND POWER by Eugenia Herbert) which discuss the critical role of blacksmiths in traditional african society as purveyors of culture and wielders of occult powers/energy--alternately admired or despised depending on the african society in question. See also a great website titled LIfe Force at the Anvil. http://www.artmetal.com/project/Features/Africa/ which treats this topic also.

* Some of the rings are made of iron. I came across one myself: a closed one, quite heavy, battered and solid. Most of the closed rings however are not solid but have a ceramic or clay core. Below is photo of large broken ring--which reveals the interior--very hard clay, but underneath--an iron ring. I had conceived some great symbolism but E Herbert suggested it may be purely for structural purposes.


(12" diameter; 20 pounds weight)

I had imagined that the description of these rings sketched thus far might resonate with someone familiar with traditional belief systems, and Steve seems to have gleaned the basic element when he mentions the term "power object"..some people say "power receptacle".
Heretofore, I was planning a very brief descriptionof the Kru/Grebo groups whose fore-fathers loosely migrated from the far-north-east (norther Cote D'Ivoire) over the past 400-500 years, coalescing in stages near sacred mountains (likely because of their sources of iron) in Liberia, according their oral-history--- driven presumbaly by pressure as a result for example of the collapse of the more corporate states in the Sudan, then entering the dense inhospitable forest. (Indeed, accoring to the handbook of the Ivory Coast, almost all of the tribes there cannot be considered truly indigenous, having arrived there only over the past 1,000 years repacing a population referred to as negrilles (?)). From there, I would have described some of the social organization of these groups, with comments on the role of the Bodio (which has many different spellings), and the mountain oracles the home of important spirits which had some elements of regional authority. But if properly done, even as sketch is quite lengthy.

So I will leap ahead and get to the heart of the matter in the next post and discuss the mindset in traditional african belief which places these rings in proper context.
Here's a quote a just came across recently by Ernst Anspach which I think is germane: essentially , and with certain exception african art is primarily religious....the common denominator ... is the attempt to strengthen the life giving forces, the affirmations of creation and order, the restraint of sickness, death and destruction.

This concern for the unseen forces, the spirit world, which palpably affect life and death cannot be underestimated. One can scarcely begin to comprehend or appreciate African "art" without due consideration of traditional african religious belief. Of course, many volumes have been written on this topic, both very specific and general.

see Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, publ.1954
Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa, 1904
Baudin, Fetchism and Fetich Worshippers, 1885.
NB: the older books used FETICH spelling instead of FETISH

For our purposes, we need only consider this one facet: if a man should get sick or die, or have a strange accident, or fail to catch prey or have a crop failure, or if his wife become infertile, in general, this would be deemed NOT an accident but the result of either failure to propiate the proper spirits (often his own ancestors) who have now become hostile, failure to obey a taboo , or the result of spiritual attack through WITCHCRAFT. A topic much discussed by almost every informant who ever set foot in Africa.
Thus, africans in many pre-colonial societies sought protection through a host of charms, amulets and medicine--the most powerful of which were (to use the out-dated term): FETISHES. (The term fetish was derived from a portuguese term for "made-thing"). By fetish, we refer to an object consecrated in SECRET through ceremony so that a LIVING SPIRIT is localized to the object itself-and thus under the command of the owner...as long as the owner handles his fetish properly, through proper monthly "feeding", which is to say blood sacrifice. Failing proper sacrifice, the fetish is said to "die", thus losing the spirit that is housed therein, it becoming an empty receptacle, itself of no value. There can be fetishes for personal use, worn on the body, and for specific tasks, such as hunting or fishing. A powerful fetish may answer questions posed to it, as in divination, even telling where to found a village, or whether war will be succesful. It can cure infertility. It can catch a witch who was plotting against the owner
Beyong personal use, there are fetishes to protect whole villages , kept on an altar in the center of the village or at the entrance for all to see, receiving great sacrifices or rice, palm oil, and blood-- often human blood. I can't tell you how often now I have read of how the preparation of a particularly powerful fetish required the sacrifice of a human child so that parts of his body could be incorporated into the fetish, and in other parts of the ritual preparation of the object. If anyone has read the Epic of Sundiata Keita (or Sunjata) you will read an allusion to this practice in that oral account.
So we see that the various description of these Nitien, as a "kru compass", as being alive , as being able to cure infertility or protect the village and all the rest as fitting very nicely into the attributes ascribed to fetishes. So the massive rings are very likely village or clan fetishes, and the smaller rings and anklets for more personal use. They are not simply decorative, but powerful armamentarium against a potentially hostile spirits world.

Hi Scott

I would add to your very interesting discussion of fetishes, that this is not a peculiarly African belief system. It's widespread in the rest of the world, too, although it tends not to be as strong among the highly educated.

Thanks,

Steve Price

Hi Steve,

You are right. Many of these ideas are as old and as widespread as humankind itself. Quite a few of the authors pointed out some similarities at various times between African religious thought versus Oceania or India and other areas. I was particularly struck by how similar the reliance on amulets and charms, and magic was to Pharaonic Egyptian practices. I just happened to be in a museum last week where there was a Egyptian statue of a hawk. The legend reported that organic material was found hidden inside the statue, and that the spirit of Horus was felt to actually reside in the statue.
And certainly, the notion of child sacrifice is as old (or older I should say) as the story of Abraham and Isaac, the novel part being that here it marked a turning away from this practice.Well, I can tell you that I had not expected to discuss this latter topic when I first got curious about these NITIEN.

best,
Scott