Ceremonial Whisk (čera or chira)

The ceremonial whisk has been part of the regalia of the Christian Ethiopian empire and its church for centuries. This modern example of a ceremonial whisk (čera or chira) represents a luxury model, with a thick plume of fine horsehair attached to an ornamented handle. Such works were often used by a member of the clergy or the royalty. The use of horsehair would have indicated the status of the bearer, as horses were associated with warriors, nobles, and above all, the emperor. The whisk’s handle is formed by a piece of metal worked over with spiraling bands of black-brown, ivory, and tan horse hair that have been hand-woven over the metal handle, terminating in a half-sphere. The silver-toned metal of the handle’s terminal ring has been painted black. The hair in the whisk has a gradient shift in colors from ivory through white, gray, and finally, dark gray at its tapered end. Like the sheath of the handle, the switch is attached to the handle by means of a woven structure, the base of which is hidden by the voluminous hair.

The use of whisks in royal ceremonial contexts is represented in Ethiopian Christian art. Fourth and fifth century coins minted during the Aksumite Empire provide the first depictions of these identifying regalia in use. Whisks were also among the liturgical and ceremonial instruments used by priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. By the thirteenth century, there was a royal official known as the ‘keeper of the fly-whisks’ (aqabe tsentsen) (Munro-Hay 1991, 153). The use of the flywhisk has also been documented in weavings, manuscripts, and on the wall paintings inside churches. In such scenes, attendants and noble guards carrying flywhisks are frequently seen flanking important religious figures, such as the Virgin Mary, or rulers seated on elaborate thrones. The depiction of Ethiopian royal insignia –particularly the courtier carrying a ceremonial whisk and an umbrella– has been used in depictions of King Solomon in Ethiopian Orthodox art, thus situating the Biblical story in Ethiopia, and underscoring the kingdom’s belief that the first emperor of Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty was the son of Solomon and Makeda (the Queen of Sheba). Royal regalia, including flywhisks, became a prominent part of the photographs commissioned by the Ethiopian court in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This example is consistent with flywhisks crafted in Ethiopia today. While still used as part of prestige regalia, they can now be acquired by a broader range of consumers.

Kristen Windmuller-Luna, 2016
Sylvan C. Coleman and Pam Coleman Memorial Fund Fellow in the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Further reading
Jenkins, Earnestine. A Kingly Craft: Art and Leadership in Ethiopia: A Social History of Art and Visual Culture in Pre-modern Africa. Lanham: University Press of America, 2008.

Munro-Hay, S. C. Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991.

Phillipson, D. W. Foundations of an African Civilization: Aksum & the Northern Horn, 1000 BC- AD 1300. Woodbridge, Suffolk: James Currey, 2012.