THE Djidji Ayokwe, a sacred “talking drum” which was looted by French colonial troops in 1916 and taken to France, arrived back in its home village in Ivory Coast on Friday.
The ceremony, on Ivory Coast’s national independence day holiday, was the first time today’s Ivorians were able to see it.
The imposing wooden drum, more than three metres (10 feet) long and weighing 430 kilogrammes, was used by the Ebrie tribe to transmit messages.
It was officially handed over in February and arrived back in Ivory Coast in March aboard a specially chartered plane but was not taken out of its huge wooden crate.
Ivory Coast had asked in late 2018 for the return of the Djidji Ayokwe among 148 works of art taken during the colonial period.
It is one of hundreds of stolen artefacts Paris is preparing to send back to Africa, aided by the approval in May of a new French law.
On Friday, it was carried in a military parade through the Yopougon district of Abidjan, before continuing on to the village of Adjame, where it was made.
The black, white and red instrument was transported in a glass-fronted case on a large, decorated float and welcomed by Culture Minister Francoise Remarck, traditional leaders and hundreds of local residents.
A dozen people performed a libation ceremony, pouring a few drops of liquid onto the ground as an offering to their ancestors.
“A nation cannot develop if it doesn’t preserve its memory and promote its heritage,” said Adjame mayor Farikou Soumahoro.
He said he felt “deep emotion and great pride”.
“We want to see the drum with our own eyes so we can truly believe it belongs to us,” 69-year-old villager Jacqueline Akrebie told AFP.
Traditional leader Cyriaque Ahoure, 63, said he had come to share a moment of “great joy, when we remembering our ancestors”.
The talking drum is much more than a musical instrument. It was used by the Ebrie community to warn of danger — particularly from colonialists, call to war or summon villagers to ceremonies.
It was seized by the French colonial authorities in 1916 before being shipped to Europe in 1929 and exhibited in Paris for decades.
It is due to go on display at the Museum of Civilisations in Abidjan which has been specially renovated.
Senegal and Benin have also asked for the repatriation of their treasures.
The return of cultural artefacts taken from ex-colonies in Africa and elsewhere has become a sensitive issue, with museums, institutions and collectors in Europe and the United States facing pressure to give them back.