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Mossi, Burkina Faso
The Mossi people
occupy in the region of about thirty thousand square
miles in central Burkina Faso. The area that they live
in is a great plateau that lies between 1000 and 1500
feet above sea level, working as a divider between the
Mossi and their neighbors who inhibit the lower lying
less fertile lands. The Mossi are a farming and
herding community, growing millet, Sorghum and maize
in savannahs, and rive in the river valleys. They
also grow peanuts, mangoes and green beans which are
more commercial, grown for sale.
Their society was
developed in the 15th and 16th centuries with the
fusion of invaders from Ghana with the local
populations. The conquered peoples were amalgamated
without regard for ethnic origin, forming the larger
Mossi people, in which the recent arrivals gradually
intermarried with the daughters of older families,
reinforcing social cohesion. Their political power is
held by the Nakomse, whose ancestors were the raiding
invaders in the 15th and 16th centuries. The
religious leaders are the Tengabisi.
The traditional
Mossi spirituality is based on a single, supreme,
otiose creator being who to them is known as Wende who
animates the various aspects of the environment with
his powers. Spiritually they are concerned with the
control of supernatural forces which vitalize every
aspect of their natural environment. They believe
every person has a soul, sigha, which takes on the
name of kyma after death.
Mossi masks,
referred to as ouango or more recently as wango, are
danced for a number of different ceremonies. In Mossi
tradition, when a head of a household dies, they block
the door of the house where he was lying and open
another portal as an exit, to confuse the spirit if it
tries to return. If is the death of an important
tribal individual, a great funerary ceremony is held
by the village, inviting all of the other villages in
the region. The masqueraders or uoangos will dance,
singing in a secret language, and it is believed that
anyone who utters a word during this singing will die
within the year. The Mossi masks are largely
zoomorphic, full face masks and are kept in the shrine
of the ancestral spirit they represent. They have a
totemic role and are given libations when not worn in
exchange for help in everyday life. The masks show
regional differences, and are therefore classified in
terms of the five styles named after Mossi kingdoms:
Ouagadougou, Yatenga, Risiam, Kaya and Bulsa.
Mossi statues,
representative of deceased chiefs, were carved too;
standing on slightly bent legs, with their arms set
apart from their bodies, with round heads and
flattened faces. They were symbolically buried in
place of the chiefs’ corpse during sumptuous
ceremonies, while the actual corpse was secretly
inhumed immediately after death. The Mossi also carved
fertility dolls, with abstract flattened faces, were
given to newly circumcised girls.
Reference:
African Masks:Barbier-mueller Collection
ISBN:3-7913-2709-7
Tribal Art of Africa - Jaques-Baptiste Baquart
ISBN:0-500-28231-5
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