Masduulaa: The Symbol of Somali Royalty

[awsaleban667]

@Shimbiris @Garaad diinle
The Masduulaa/Mas Jowhar is the Somali take the nearly universal mythological symbol of the dragon. Western explorers such as Burton and others mention it’s popularity among nomadic Somalis.

However more interesting than this is fictional ancient Egyptian story “The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor”. In this story The Lord of Punt is described as a large serpent with scales of gold and eyebrows of Lapis Lazuli. This fits very well with the tales of the Masduulaa.

The Ethiopian chronicle of Zara Yaqob mentions that they recovered the Parasol of the Sultan of Adal Badlay ibn Sa’ad ad Din after the battle of Gomit and it was decorated with a winged serpent. In fact Badlay

 

[wonyluvr]

wow interesting find so it’s a jewelled serpent never heard of it

 

[awsaleban667]

wow interesting find so it’s a jewelled serpent never heard of it

Here is the banner of Sultan Badlay

 

[wonyluvr]

Here is the banner of Sultan Badlay

cool asf wow I’m impressed

 

[IKHALIIL]

Here is the banner of Sultan Badlay

Nice, reminds me of this:

 

[Midas]

Didn't ibn battua mention something about the sultan of mogadishu having a eagle as a symbol?

 

[IKHALIIL]

Didn't ibn battua mention something about the sultan of mogadishu having a eagle as a symbol?

This is the seljuk empire's flag.

 

[Midas]

@Shimbiris @Garaad diinle
The Masduulaa/Mas Jowhar is the Somali take the nearly universal mythological symbol of the dragon. Western explorers such as Burton and others mention it’s popularity among nomadic Somalis.
View attachment 319849
However more interesting than this is fictional ancient Egyptian story “The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor”. In this story The Lord of Punt is described as a large serpent with scales of gold and eyebrows of Lapis Lazuli. This fits very well with the tales of the Masduulaa.
View attachment 319847
The Ethiopian chronicle of Zara Yaqob mentions that they recovered the Parasol of the Sultan of Adal Badlay ibn Sa’ad ad Din after the battle of Gomit and it was decorated with a winged serpent. In fact Badlay
View attachment 319846

Funny enough there is also a somali folktale in this collection where this guy's makes a deal with a magical talking snake that can tell the future in the form of a poem he visits the snake three times and makes a bargain with it each time and its also the most well developed narrative in the folktale collection. Maybe there's a possible connection
Here is the folk tale collcetion :https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...QQFnoECBIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2tN0i3RZRHnXCI89Kc6t2X

 

[nobutreally]

In the past, some clans had animal “totems.” (I’m not sure if all groups had this, or only those who wanted to self-mythologize.) My clan is also associated with, I believe, a snake of some sort and another animal I can’t recall. There’s a lot of fascinating folklore buried in our history.

 

[Midas]

In the past, some clans had animal “totems.” (I’m not sure if all groups had this, or only those who wanted to self-mythologize.) My clan is also associated with, I believe, a snake of some sort and another animal I can’t recall. There’s a lot of fascinating folklore buried in our history.

That's fascinating does your clan live in the south. Also are their any stories associated with it. I've heard somebody on twitter once post a screenshot of an excerpt that said one of the abgal subclans had a mythical orgin story about them being born or related to a fish/reptile.

 

[wonyluvr]

That's fascinating does your clan live in the south. Also are their any stories associated with it. I've heard somebody on twitter once post a screenshot of an excerpt that said one of the abgal subclans had a mythical orgin story about them being born or related to a fish/reptile.

that’s funny asf can’t lie

 

[nobutreally]

That's fascinating does your clan live in the south. Also are their any stories associated with it. I've heard somebody on twitter once post a screenshot of an excerpt that said one of the abgal subclans had a mythical orgin story about them being born or related to a fish/reptile.

Sanaag. Regarding other stories, I think Saada Mire lists some in her book but I’m unsure how accurate some of the claims are — not because I don’t trust her research, but because our oral tradition feels so amorphous at times haha.

 

[Midas]

Sanaag. Regarding other stories, I think Saada Mire lists some in her book but I’m unsure how accurate some of the claims are — not because I don’t trust her research, but because our oral tradition feels so amorphous at times haha.

Oh my famlies from sanaag too ive never heatd of this before do you know what the somali word for totem is. But Yeah I get what you mean but that's just how oral traditions are. I think ours are better than most because we can cross check them with poetry. also which book is this? Is it divine fertility?

 

[gasara]

Can't believe we had dragon mythology. I'm learning something new each time.

 

[NidarNidar]

I do recall hearing stories about a large wing creature possibly an avian dinosaur that used to be fed by human sacrifices, until a mother hatched a plan to feed it an extremely large canjeero when it was her daughters turn to be sacrificed for the village, the creature choked on it and died.


In ancient Egyptian mythology, serpents held a complex and multifaceted role, symbolizing both protection and chaos, royalty and divinity, and even death and rebirth. Key figures include the Uraeus (rearing cobra), Apophis (god of chaos), and Mehen (protective serpent).

This is a Malaysian story btw.

"The Rangalau Kiulu Phantom is a mythical spirit from Somaliland. This spirit is said to roam the jungles of Sabah at night or dawn, taking the form of a little girl and often accompanied by eerie, wailing laughter."

"The night of the incident, a little girl and her parents were sleeping in their hammocks. A cobra had entered the vicinity through an outlet that was left opened due to ongoing maintenance.The cobra was able to slither up into the ventilation system, which led to the sleeping area. This let the cobra loose, where it came across three defenseless humans sleeping.

Many people are perplexed by the occurrence because of the strange chain of events that must have taken place in order to lead to the conclusion that the snake killed the parents but left the young daughter unharmed. From this incident, numerous queries and suspicion were raised. No signs of the young girl had ever been located despite the local police force conducting intensive searches.

It soon arose that the little girl survived but lost her sanity. She became known as the ‘Guardian’ of the jungle. However, as locals have been the only source, there is little evidence favoring the claims. Whether the claims are credible or not, after all, no traces of the girl had been found."