Cowrie Shell Set (Owó Eró)

What’s Included

(Set of 21) cowrie shells (Size≈.5-1 inch)

Sourced from Nigeria

Curator’s Note

Sustainably sourced handpicked cowrie shells. The back of the shell has been removed by hand.

Ring Top Cowries are species of the sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The shell of this species is mostly off-white or pale yellowish in color, sometimes with a dark cast on the dorsum, and with two yellow or orange stripes along the upper sides. These stripes nearly touch at the ends, giving the impression of a ring.

Cultural Note

Several forms of cowrie-shell divination are distributed broadly throughout West Africa.

According to Yorùbá oral tradition, during primordial times, the elements used in the Idáasà, cowrie shell divination system, were pieces of ivory, nuts and seeds and later cowries. The cowries used for divination.

While there are many variants of cowrie shell divination throughout Africa using from eight to 21 cowrie shells, West Africa systems most commonly use 16 cowrie shells. Ẹẹ́rìndínlógún comes from the Yorùbá “owó mẹ́rìndínlógún” or sixteen cowries, literally "four taken from 20". The number 16 holds important significance in Yoruba cosmology as it was the purported number of original divinities that established life on earth. The sixteen cowries are alap represent the 16 ancient counting categories (Onkà àgbà odù) and each one has an uncountable number of verses attached to it.

Idáasà is also used throughout the Americas where it plays an important role in traditions like Lucumí and Candomblé. In Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, it is called “dilogun”. In Brazil, it is called “jogo de búzios” or “merindinlogun”.