The Benin Kingdom: Rituals of Kinship and Their Social Meanings(1)

Abstract

Rituals of kingship in some parts of Nigeria represent the main social reality for many people, providing meaning amidst clashing and ineffectual ideologies, and promising security in a politically unstable time. In the Benin kingdom the Oba's power is less than in centuries past, but the ideas underling kingship persist, through myth and ritual, as a general cognitive model. By exploring the meanings of Benin kingship rituals and the contemporary contexts of royal ceremonies this paper shows how court performances and other legitimating icons such as cement statuary give the Bini a sense of stability by tying them into a larger imagined tradition of greatness.