Africa is the home to a wide variety of animal life in and African artists often incorporate images of animals to express ideas.

The Chi Wara mask is one such example of African art. Chi Wara translates as “animal of tillage.” In Bamana belief, a mythical creature-the primordial Chi Wara-was the first farmer, a wild beast who taught mankind how to cultivate fields. Today, the skills of farming are still critical to sustaining life on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

In this sculpted mask and others of the same type, the mythical creature is represented by combining aspects of different animals. The lower body represents the aardvark, a type of anteater that burrows into the ground with its claws and snout. The way an aardvark scratches at the earth reminds the viewer of planting crops. The head of the sculpture with the tall thin antlers of a roan antelope remind the viewer of growing millet, a grain commonly grown in the region. And, the zigzag patterns stand for the path of the sun between winter and summer solstices also suggesting the way an antelope runs. The Chi Wara is formed into a crest mask, which sits on top of the dancer’s head attached to a basketry cap. The dancer’s body and face are hidden by a costume of grasses and fibers that is a symbol of rain-essential to growing food. Beads, leather, and metal attachments often are added to embellish the masquerade.

Performances with Chi Wara headdresses are done by champion farmers at times of land clearing, plowing, planting, and harvest. The dance is done in a bent over attitude to show “an excellent farmer hoes the ground continually, without straightening up to rest.” The performance is hoped to aid in the farmer’s efforts to make something out of nothing - growing crops from the dry ground.

There is also a Chi Wara society in which elders teach young farmers to preserve the knowledge of agricultural practices. This society prepares boys to become fathers and husbands by focusing on skills needed to be successful farmers to provide for their family and contribute to the community as a whole. In daily life, women help with farming chores as well. In similar fashion, there are male and female versions of the headdress that are danced in pairs. Drummers provide the beat as women sing and call out praises to the ideal farmer.

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Hunter’s Tunic 19th-20th century Bamana culture, Mali 33 1/2 by 50 inches Cotton, shells, metal, mirrors, animal horns, animal skin, animal claws, fur.

Outside of city life, many communities in Africa depend on controlling an unpredictable environment as a means of food and livelihood. Traditionally, hunting has provided more than food-a successful hunt is a symbol for general prosperity for the entire village. Although hunting is disappearing as a way of life in most of Africa, hunters still join together in associations that sponsor meetings and group hunts.

Hunters perform rituals to assure safety and success before they leave the protection of the village and venture into the wilderness. Many African cultures view wilderness as a space of dangerous animals and spirits and yet also the source of magic, healing, power, and spiritual knowledge. Those who enter the wilderness learn of medicines and herbs that can be found there and seek to harness supernatural energy of wilderness spirits. The hunter may search out certain animals for their connections with the spirit world. When captured, the teeth, claws, horns, or fur of these animals are collected as charms.

Embellished shirts like this are worn by hunters in many African cultures; the attachments represent the skill and knowledge of the hunter. While simple, unadorned clothing is typically worn for the actual hunt, special shirts like this are worn for festivals, parades, and other gatherings to distinguish hunters from the rest of the community.

These “uniforms” are usually constructed of woven cloth dyed in earthen colors to which is attached animal bones, claws, skins, horns, wood, shell, and other natural substances as well as manmade materials such as metal disks, mirrors, and glass. Special packets known as basi (secret things) represent knowledge acquired by a hunter during his lifetime. The contents are known only to the wearer, in keeping with the Mande belief that amulets lose their power if left unwrapped. In a blending of traditional African religious beliefs and Islam, Islamic prayers or “magic squares” corresponding to numbers and letters are often enclosed for protection and spiritual power in leather, cloth, or metal to form similar protective amulets. All of the attachments give the shirt symbolic power to ward off evil and bring good fortune to the wearer.

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Kneeling Male Figure around 17th century Unidentified culture, Djenne region, Inland Delta of the Niger River, Mali 10 1/2 by 5 by 5 1/2 inches terra cotta

Archaeology has brought to light the ancient artistic heritage of the regions of present-day Mali. While archaeological finds in this area are still fairly recent and more work is needed, it is clear from the findings that a tradition of terra cotta sculpture was common. This sculpture shows a man in a kneeling pose with his head turned in an upward gaze. This posture is common in ancient statues from the Djenne region seeming to indicate a sense of calm, reverence, and humility.

Although the subject of this sculpture is not certain, it is possible that it represents a blacksmith with an adze, a sculptor’s tool, over his shoulder. Traditionally, blacksmiths in African cultures are sculptors in iron and wood as well as being trained to be diviners, amulet-makers, doctors, priests, and smiths. Blacksmiths are revered and feared at the same time because they are believed to have secret knowledge of powerful substances and magic. Blacksmiths tend to live somewhat apart from the rest of the community. Their skills are passed through generations in secret, closed groups from master to apprentice. Among the Bamana, blacksmiths direct social, political, religious, and judicial associations known as Komo, said to have been instituted by the blacksmith who served Sundiata (the “Lion King” who established the ancient empire of Mali). In Dogon myth, it was the blacksmith who brought fire to earth for the first time. Among many Mande cultures, blacksmiths are called “The First Sons of the Earth” with the four elements of creation always present at the forge: fire, air of the bellows, water, and earth. In this setting they are thought to harness the forces or energy of nature (called nyama) to transform materials of the earth into tools, art, and ritual objects.

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Pair of Earrings 20th century Fulani culture, Mali 3 by 3 1/4 by 1 1/2 inches Gold

The Fulani (named after Fulbe, the language they speak) also known as Peul (after pullo, their term for a Fulani man), are a nomadic Muslim group living along the edge of the Sahara Desert. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, they must carry with them all of their possessions.Personal adornment and beauty are important features of Fulani culture. The style of clothing and jewelry worn often reflect a person’s lineage and hereditary occupation. Impressive jewelry such as this pair of gold earrings not only accentuate a woman’s attractiveness, they literally display the family wealth and ensure its safe-keeping.

West Africa has been famous for its riches of gold since ancient times when gold was so abundant ordinary people elaborately adorned themselves in it. Because of the trans-Saharan trade routes gold was spread throughout North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East from the mines of Wangara. The practice of recycling gold objects has been common among many North and West African cultures so that as a family’s wealth increases, earrings such as these are remade in larger and larger versions. Some earrings are so large they require a support (usually a thong of red leather) worn across the crown of the head to prevent injury to the ears while being worn. This is a popular style of earring made from thinly hammered pieces of gold joined along the center in a cupped design and intricately tooled with geometric designs.

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Qur’anic Writing Tablet 19th-20th century Hausa culture, Nigeria 26 by 10 by 7/8 inches Wood, leather, string, pigment

The spread of Islam, beginning in the 7th century AD, has had a considerable impact on African cultures. The Hausa, in present-day Nigeria, were one of the first groups in West Africa to convert to Islam. Writing tablets such as this are common for teaching, reading, and writing of verses of the Qur’an, the holy scriptures of Islam. Because Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the word of God (Allah) as revealed to the Prophet Mohammad, they have a great deal of respect for the sacred written word and the power of these words. Students use these boards to practice writing verses, washing the ink from the board when each verse is memorized. Upon completion of study, a student chooses a passage from the Qur’an to write on his board in permanent colors and then adorns the writing board. This serves as a sort of diploma to show the owner’s ability to recite the entire Qur’an. This example is from Kano, an Islamic center in northern Nigeria and center of Hausa culture. The curved base provides a place to comfortably rest the board while it is in use, either on the waist or leg to stabilize it while writing. While most boards of this type have wooden handles, this one is tooled in leather with designs typical of Hausa and Tuareg ornamentation from Nigeria, Niger, and Mali.

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Great Mask Dogon culture 17th-19th century wood, paint, fiber

The Dogon have been the subject of many anthropological studies, one of the earliest and most famous of these studies was led by Marcel Griaule of the Sorbonne. He and his students traveled in 1931, 1935, and 1937 to observe the Dogon and record aspects of their culture and mythology. Much of the art of the Dogon reflects myth, especially masks which dramatize significant events. The Dogon have more than 70 types of masks that represent creatures and concepts from myth as well as the human and animal world.

This mask, also known as the “Mother of Masks,” is not actually worn as most African masks are. It is over 14 feet (4.35 meters) tall! Most of the time a mask such as this is stored in a rock shelter outside the village until the time of the masquerade when it is used as an altar. Sacrifices are made to this mask and its presence transforms the surrounding space into a place of spiritual contact where other masks are danced.

With the passing of each generation, a Dogon village retires its old Great Mask to a cave and introduces a new one to represent the next generation. This is a time of an elaborate masquerade known as Dama. It is a funeral that takes place over several days. Members of the masking society called Awa are secluded for a time before the beginning of Dama to prepare and renew the masks, musical instruments, and costumes. Traditionally, it is forbidden to know who is dancing the masks.

The masks are danced to help the spirits of the deceased pass to the supernatural world and to commemorate the myth of the first death in Dogon culture. Legend recounts that Lebe Serou, the primordial ancestor, was transformed into a snake at his death, symbolized by long thin form of the mask.

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Khosa Fulani Culture Unknown maker 20th century wool cloth 50 1/2 by 111 inches

Traditionally among the Fulani, occupation is hereditary. Fulani weavers, known as Maabuube, live in settled communities whereas Fulani cattle herders, known as Wodaabe, live nomadic lives. These groups depend on one another for the production of various goods. Each year a cattle herder will order a new woolen blanket, called a khosa, from a weaver. These heavy blankets are important to the herders who use them for warmth and protection from mosquitoes during the cool season from November to January. Then, in the spring, the herders trade the blankets for other needed goods. Khosa are usually made of fabric woven of handspun wool on a narrow loom in long, narrow strips. Several strips are then sewn together side-to-side to form the blanket. Designs and patterns in black, red, and yellow are carefully spaced during weaving so they will line up across the blanket when the strips are joined. The style of these blankets became common in far-reaching locations because of the trans-Saharan trade routes along which the Fulani carried goods.

Not currently on view in the Museum galleries, this object is seen as the background pattern behind the Hunter’s Tunic and Chi Wara Headdress on the front of The Art of Ancient Mali classroom poster.

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Staff of a Ritual Thief Dogon Culture 19th - 20th Century Wood

The prominent joints of the male and female figures on this staff relate to Dogon myths about the first blacksmith. He brought fire to earth by stealing a piece of the sun from the heavenly workshop, but in fleeing he crashed to earth, breaking is arms and legs. The resulting knee and elbow joints were passed on to his heirs, enabling them to dance and work.

In another episode from Dogon myth, the celestial ark, which contained all of life, fell to earth and was then pulled to water by a horse. The mouth and eyes at the bend of the staff refer to the horse that pulled the ark of life.

The imagery on the staff identifies its owner as a ritual thief, a person appointed to steal chickens, sheep and goats for sacrifice and feasting after funerals.