Coronations in Africa
- Note: this article is one of a set, describing coronations around the world.
- For general information related to all coronations, please see the umbrella article Coronation.
Coronations in Africa are held, or have been held, in or amongst the following countries, regions and peoples:
By country, region, or people
Ashanti
The
Central African Empire
The
240 tons of food and drink were flown into Bangui for Bokassa's coronation banquet, including a tureen of caviar so large that two chefs had to carry it, and a seven-layer cake. Sixty new Mercedes-Benz limousines were airlifted into the capital, at a hefty cost of $300,000 for airfreight alone. All in all, the entire ceremony cost $20,000,000 to stage, an astronomical sum in a nation whose annual gross domestic product was only $250,000,000. The newly crowned Emperor used French aid grants to cover a significant portion of the bill, saying: "Everything here was financed by the French government. We ask the French for money, get it and waste it".[1]
In 1979, Bokassa was overthrown in a coup, carried out with French military support, by the very man he had overthrown in 1965, David Dacko.[2] The monarchy was abolished, the emperor was exiled, and his empire reverted to its former name.
Egypt
The Kingdom of Egypt (1922–53) held an enthronement rite for its last ruling king, Farouk I. A controversy arose as to whether the ritual should be religious in nature, an option favored by the king, or whether it should be purely secular, which was desired by Farouk's Prime Minister at the time, Mustafa El-Nahhas. The religious ceremony envisaged the new king taking special vows in an Islamic ritual, followed by his receipt of the sword of Muhammad Ali Pasha. However, El-Nahhas insisted upon Farouk simply taking a constitutional oath before parliament, followed by a formal reception at his palace. The Prince Regent proposed combining the two ideas, but the government refused.[3]
The ceremony, which took place on 29 July 1937, followed the Prime Minister's directives. The
Farouk was overthrown in the
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Empire used a coronation ritual for its emperors. The last such event was held on 2 November 1930, for Haile Selassie, the final Emperor of Ethiopia.
Heavily influenced by Ethiopia's Oriental Orthodox Christian tradition, preparation for the coronation ceremony commenced seven days prior to the actual event. Following an ancient Ethiopian custom, forty-nine bishops and priests continually chanted from the Psalter in groups of seven, in seven corners of the St. George's Cathedral, in Addis Ababa, where the crowning was to take place. On the eve of the ceremony, the imperial robes and regalia were taken into the church to be blessed and prayed over by the Abuna, or Archbishop, followed by the new Emperor and his family, who arrived at midnight and remained inside the cathedral that night in prayer.[N 2]
The following morning, the Emperor was met inside the cathedral by the Archbishop, who presented him with a Gospel Book and asked him to take a four-part coronation oath. This oath required him to defend the Ethiopian Orthodox Faith, rule according to law and the interest of his subjects, safeguard the realm and establish schools for teaching of both secular and Orthodox religious subjects. After this, the Abuna read a special prayer of blessing, while drums and harps accompanied the chanting of Psalm 48. Various items of the Imperial Regalia were brought forward, blessed and presented to the new sovereign one-by-one. These items included a golden sword, a scepter of ivory and gold, the orb, a diamond-encrusted ring, two traditional lances filigreed in gold, the imperial vestments, and finally the crown. Each item was accompanied by an anointing with seven differently-scented oils. After this, the new monarch and his consort were taken on a tour of the church, then escorted outside by a procession of notables carrying palm branches and chanting: "Blessed be the King of Israel".[N 2]
Ethiopian tradition required the Emperor's consort to be crowned at the palace, three days after the coronation. However, Haile Selassie broke with this precedent, and had his wife crowned (but not anointed) in the cathedral with him. Selassie was overthrown by a communist military coup in 1974, and the monarchy was abolished in 1975.
Lesotho
The tiny African kingdom of
Senegambia & Mauritania
The
Eswatini
Eswatini, a small independent kingdom in southern Africa, held a coronation ritual in April 1986 for its current monarch, Mswati III. Although Swazi tradition required the king to wait until his twenty-first year to be crowned, Mswati was crowned three years early due to disputes between different factions in the regency council.[8] Swazi chiefs paid a tribute of 105 cattle to the family of Mswati's mother, Ntombi, as a dowry for the woman who was to become the new "Mother of the Nation". The rite itself included various secret rituals, after which the new king took part in several ritual dances in full feathered regalia. At the coronation, tribal singers repeated his imposing chain of official titles, which include "the Bull", "Guardian of the Sacred Shields", "the Inexplicable" and "the Great Mountain". The dances were described by William Smith of Time as "exhausting".[9]
Toro Kingdom
The
Once inside, Rukidi was led to the regalia room, where the Omusuga, or head of royal rituals, called upon the gods to strike the boy dead if he was not of royal blood. Once the Omusuga was satisfied as to the new king's lineage, Rukidi was permitted to ring the royal bell, then he sounded the Nyalebe or sacred drum, following which he was blessed with blood from a slaughtered bull and a white hen. As morning broke, women (who had been barred from the ritual up to this time) were admitted to the palace. The king was seated upon the lap of a virgin girl and was fed with a royal meal of millet dough. A coronation oath was administered with the boy lying on his side, in accordance with Toro tradition.[10]
At 10 AM, the king, wearing a jewel-studded crown, was led to St. John's Anglican Cathedral where he was crowned by Anglican Bishop Eustance Kamanyire. Rukidi was given a
Yorubaland (Benin, Nigeria and Togo)
A coronation is known as Ìwúyè, meaning the action of bestowing a chieftaincy title. Relative rank amongst the dynastic paramount chieftains of the
).Pre-coronation rites that are common amongst the Yoruba include an election to the office of king by the subordinate chiefs of the realm, confirmation of said election by the
See also
- Coronation of Haile Selassie. Slideshow video from the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
- Coronation of Bokassa I. Video from the coronation of self-proclaimed Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.
Notes
This section contains expansions on the main text of the article, as well as links provided for context that may not meet Wikipedia standards for
- ^ A photo of King Farouk taken during this ceremony can be seen at "What European papers said Archived June 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine"; Al Ahram Weekly Website
- ^ a b Background information on the coronation may be found at the rastaites.com website, Coronation of HIM Haile Selassie I Archived 2010-02-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 24 August 2008.
References
- ^ a b "Mounting a Golden Throne". Time Inc. 1977-12-19. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ^ "French Fiddling". Time. 1979-10-08. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ^ a b "Crowning moment". Al-Ahram Weekly. 2005-07-28. Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ^ "Egypt". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
- ^ "The World Factbook — Egypt". Cia.gov. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
- ^ "Lesotho's King Letsie III crowned again". Cnn.com. October 31, 1997. Archived from the original on May 28, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- Saloum", Introduction, bibliographie et Notes par Charles Becker, BIFAN, Tome 46, Serie B, n° 3-4, 1986–1987, pp 28-30
- ^ Mswati III. Encarta.msn.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
- ^ William E. Smith; Peter Hawthorne (September 7, 1987). "Swaziland In the Kingdom of "Fire Eyes"". Time.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- ^ a b c The Boy King Archived July 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. From the safariweb.com website. Contains photos from the ceremony. Retrieved on 8 September 2008.