CENTRAL AFRICAN SHORT SWORD

ariel · 17th October 2005, 09:39 PM

What puzzles and fascinates me about the Central African swords is their purely artistic, decorative quality even in detriment to the function. Otherwise, the bizarreness of the form is astonishing! One could easily make 2-3 functionally more rational blades out of the material used for only one and in less than half time. So much time and effort is often dedicated to completely unnecessary decoration of the blade, but the configuration of the blade would not allow either stabbing or cutting or both. In contrast, their hunting/domestic implements (knives, spears, bows) are simple, rational and perfectly functional.
This always left me with a question whether Central African tribes were truly serious about the art of war?
When I read about their tribal encounters (a lot of dancing, singing and just a tad of fighting), I can imagine that swords in their culture were mostly ceremonial objects.

17th October 2005, 09:39 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	What puzzles and fascinates me about the Central African swords is their purely artistic, decorative quality even in detriment to the function. Otherwise, the bizarreness of the form is astonishing! One could easily make 2-3 functionally more rational blades out of the material used for only one and in less than half time. So much time and effort is often dedicated to completely unnecessary decoration of the blade, but the configuration of the blade would not allow either stabbing or cutting or both. In contrast, their hunting/domestic implements (knives, spears, bows) are simple, rational and perfectly functional. This always left me with a question whether Central African tribes were truly serious about the art of war? When I read about their tribal encounters (a lot of dancing, singing and just a tad of fighting), I can imagine that swords in their culture were mostly ceremonial objects.