Ewua

Ewua is the title of a priest belonging to the Holy Aruosa Church, also referred to as the church of the Ọba of Benin. The church was first established by Portuguese missionaries in the fifteenth century. Each morning, noon and evening, the Ewua priest goes to the Ọba to lead prayers or devotion (this is an indication of the Catholic culture of the Angelus at 6:00 am, noon and 6:00 pm). The bronze casters today say that the figure holds an Avan, a small axe, in their left hand, though European literature refers to it as a hammer. He is also depicted wearing the equal-armed or Maltese cross on his chest.

Ewua messenger figures refer to cast sculptures of men with cross-shaped pendants worn around their necks and so-called cat’s whiskers scarification on both cheeks, which is thought to denote ‘foreigners’ or non-Edo peoples, and the round-topped cap or hat with open areas.