The African Passport Masks

This beautiful passport mask certainly contains Kaba Ko - an African term referring to marvellous things that can be looked upon without limit.

Bassa Miniature Mask
Liberia

African Masks are sacred objects. These passport masks functioned as a medium of communication between a person and their favoured ancestor. In their original context, miniature masks were integrated into a system of belief in which they functioned as spiritual guides and personal protectors.

The Dan believe that their world is split into two domains: the human domain which is represented by the village and its people, and the spiritual domain which is represented by the forest and its spirits.

These miniature masks were often carried for personal protection when living away from home, and in later years they were commonly understood to also function as a means of tribal identification. Asan Diop, of Abidjan, describes the role of passport masks:

Before Whiteman brought paper and pen to Africa, these small masks were the only form of identification that we Africans could carry with us. Each person owned a carving of himself and each tribe had its own kind of masks. This is the only way people could cross the frontier between tribal groups.

In a culture where hierarchy was based upon skill, carvers were highly respected. The masks were generally

Dan Miniature Mask
Liberia/Ivory Coast 

carved from a local rubber tree and always dyed either black or brown. This was done according to a long and delicate process to which the Bassa artist remained faithful, using colour obtained by the decoction of forest leaves.

Respected carvers would not sand the surface, but instead use their blades obliquely over and over again, generally lifting off shavings invisible to the layman's eye. The masks often acquire celebrated 'natural patina', from their exposure to the elements or frequent handling.

The beautiful depth of patina and the marvellous ability for such a small figure to attract one's attention further emphasises the mystery and power of this ''passport''.

Article courtesy of FHE Galleries: http://www.fhegalleries.com/ethnological/showArticle.php?file=04_23_africandanpassportmask.xml&year=2013
Images courtesy of the hamillgallery.com

Used Old Jar Sold For $51,000 On eBay... What´s In Your Attic?

The Awèlé Board Game (with rules)

Awale (known as: oware, awèlé or wari) is a very ancient board game that comes from Africa. 

An Awèlé Board Game

It belongs to the big group of mancala games. In all these games the player must transfer pieces from one bin to another of the board during each turn. It is a fast and a dynamic game. The luck is not there implied. Only the practice allows to arrive at a domain high level. The rules of Oware game are simple and the game is really easy-to-learn. The origin of the game gets lost in the night of the times.

Oware or awalé with many names as for example: ayo, awale, awalete, awele, oware, wari, woli,... is played in western african countries as Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon. Also in the West Indies and in the Americas as for example: Surinam, Guyana, Grenada, Barbados, Sta. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Antigua and St Kitts, Dominican Rep., Brazil, etc. as a result of the slave trade that came from this part of Africa. 

The Rules

The aim of the game:

To capture more seeds than your opponent. At the end of the game, the player who has captured the most seeds wins.

Rules of the game:

The board is divided into two areas, hollowed with 6 holes each. At the beginning, 48 seeds are distributed among the twelve holes (4 seeds in each hole). Therefore, the players need for play a 2x6 or 2x6+2 board.

The top row belong to opponent player. You own the bottom row.

The game turn:

Every player plays alternately. The first one to play is chosen at random.
The player takes all the seeds in a hole of his/her area and distributes them counter-clockwise, one in each hole.

Capture:

If the last seed to be distributed falls into one of the opponent's holes, containing already 1 or 2 seeds, the player captures the 2 or 3 seeds.
The hole is left empty. The captured seeds are taken off the board or collected into the player's loft (if the players play with a 2x6+2 board).
Therefore, the hole can be captured only if, after distributing the seeds, it contains two or three seeds.

Multiple capture:

If a player captures 2 or 3 seeds, and the preceding hole also contains two or three seeds, they are captured too, and so on.
Capturing is only allowed in the opponent's area.

Loop:

If the number of seeds taken in the starting hole is greater than 11, it constitutes a loop: the starting hole is left out every time in the distribution loop, and therefore, always left empty.

Feed the opponent:

A player is not allowed to "starve" his/her opponent: a player can't play a hole that leads to capturing all the seeds in his opponent's area. A player can be left with no seeds at all only if is impossible to feed him/her.

End of the game:

The game ends if a player has n seeds anymore in his/her area, and therefore can't play.
In this case, the other player captures all the remaining seeds.
Or the game ends if the game is "looping" (after some turns, the same board configuration is obtained again).

More information on the game is given by http://www.awale.info/?lang=en

Contributions with thanks from:

African-Art

http://webfacil.tinet.org/jtc

The Baulé Tribe Of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) ...

The Baulé belong to the Akan peoples who inhabit Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Three hundred years ago the Baulé people migrated westward from Ghana when the Asante rose to power. The tale of how they broke away from the Asante has been preserved in their oral traditions. During the Asante rise to power the Baulé queen, Aura Poku, was in direct competition with the current Asante king. When the Asante prevailed, the queen led her people away to the land they now occupy. The male descendant of Aura Poku still lives in the palace she established and is honored by the Baulé as their nominal king.

The Baulé grow yams and some maize as primary crops. They are also exporters of cocoa and kola nuts, which are grown on local plantations using large numbers of exploited migrant laborers, most from Burkina Faso. Many locally grown crops were introduced from the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade. These include maize, manioc, peppers, peanuts, tomatoes, squash, and sweet potatoes. They also raise farm animals including sheep, goats, chickens, and dogs. Markets which are primarily run by women take place every four days and are the center of the local economy. Local produce and craft items are sold alongside imported goods from all over the world.

The Baulé create art in several media, including wooden sculpture, gold and brass casting similar to their Asante ancestors, and mask and figure carving, which have been greatly influenced by their Senufo and Guro neighbors.

The Baulé have a highly centralized government with a king or chief at the top who inherits his position along matrilineal lines. There are various subchiefs in charge of his local populations, and all the chiefs rely on political advisors who help in the decision making process. The Goli association is the primary mask association, which provides social order among the Baulé.

Religion includes both ancestor worship and a heirarchy of nature gods. Nature spirits and spirit spouses are often represented in sculpture. Their creator god is Alouroua, who is never physically represented.


Article and image borrowed from Lotus Masks & World Imports

The Senufo Horse Figure of Ivory Coast ...

In the life of the Senufo, resident in the Ivory Coast, this important equestrian figure belonged to a fortuneteller and was called “siyonfolo” or “master of the horse”
. 
The horse stands for wealth and is associated with a chief or a rich man. The expressive figure symbolizes a bush ghost who, in connection with the fortune-teller, helped with important decisions. The contrasting colours of the equestrian and the body of the horse and his legs, which resulted from plants during usage, can be recognized clearly.
 
The headpiece resembles an abstract hornbill, this “calao” is ever-present in many figures and masks of the Senufo and suggests the mythological origin of the tribe.
 
The abstract composition of the piece, which comes from the region of Korhogo in the populated north of the country, is outstanding. Whereby simple bush ghost figures, “tugubele”, are often to be seen in trade, the high-quality equestrian figures are considered very rare. The slightly tilted head lends the object additional liveliness.

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