Togo - West Africa - page 924

Bambara
The Bambara (also known as Bamana) are the largest ethnic group in Mali. Concentrated in
the south and centre of the country, they comprise around one-third of the population.
Although the Bambara are a predominantly Muslim people, their belief systems are
laced with traditional beliefs and customs. Bambara men, for example, must pass through
six secret societies during a seven-year coming-of-age initiation rite, a process that culmin-
ates in a symbolic death and rebirth. Masks play a spiritually charged role in traditional
Bambara culture.
Bambara tradition decrees a highly regulated occupational caste system, among whose
ranks are farmers, leather-workers, poets and blacksmiths. Each occupational group or
caste has its own initiation rituals, for which particular masks are required, and only black-
smiths inherit the capacity to tap into the spiritual power, or nyama, that enables them to
transform wood and iron into masks and other religious objects. Because nyama is inher-
ited, blacksmiths must marry within their own occupational group. Blacksmiths also make
hoes, door locks and guns, all of which are furnished with spiritual power as well as utility.
Door locks often have a water-lizard symbol to protect the house from thieves, or a long-
eared creature similar to a bat that is said to hear every sound, thus protecting the house-
hold.
Baoulé society is considered to be one of West Africa's most egalitarian: everyone, from village elders to
slaves, traditionally had a voice in the important decisions of Baoulé life.