Worn On Both Sides Of The Same Transition

Willis records Mmere Dane counselling humility toward good fortune and patience toward misfortune alike, since both, by the proverb's own logic, are equally subject to change, a symmetry that distinguishes it from symbols addressing only one side of that equation, such as Bese Saka's straightforward celebration of abundance or Owuo Atwedee's sober acknowledgment of mortality. Willis notes this even-handedness has made Mmere Dane a recorded choice for cloth marking a significant reversal of fortune in either direction, worn as readily by someone newly prosperous, as a reminder not to presume permanence, as by someone recently fallen on hard times, as a reminder that the reversal need not be permanent either.

Willis records Mmere Dane appearing on cloth commissioned around a change in political or institutional leadership specifically, worn by those leaving office as a reminder that their new circumstance is itself temporary, and by those entering office as a caution against presuming permanence, a dual application to the same transitional occasion viewed from its two different sides. Willis treats this dual application as a natural consequence of a single transition necessarily having two sides, an outgoing office holder and an incoming one.