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The Yorùbá àrokò (semiotics) messaging system...
The photo below is a message in the Yorùbá àrokò messaging system. Arokò was created for long-distance communication and maily to keep information secret.
The photo below is a message in the Yorùbá àrokò messaging system. Arokò was created for long-distance communication and maily to keep information secret.
The letter is a message of peace and goodwill from the King of Ìjẹbú to the King of Lagos, on the occasion of his restoration in 1851. Each element in this string of cowries and seeds has meaning, as does the order in which they are arranged.
For example, the kernel in the middle indicates ‘what is good for me is good for you’. The eight cowries, arranged in pairs, signify the people of the four corners of the earth. The top pair (and thus the most important) are face to face, indicating friendship between..
the people of Ìjẹbú and Lagos.
A very similar àrokò letter to this one is illustrated and explained by the missionary Sarah Tucker in her book Abbeokuta; or sunrise within the tropics: an outline of the origin and progress of the Yoruba Mission (London, 1856).
A very similar àrokò letter to this one is illustrated and explained by the missionary Sarah Tucker in her book Abbeokuta; or sunrise within the tropics: an outline of the origin and progress of the Yoruba Mission (London, 1856).
Source: The British Library ( https://www.bl.uk/west-africa/articles/language-script-and-symbol-in-west-africa)
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