Bobo

The Bobo tribe is located in the Upper Volta region of Burkina Faso and Mali; they have lived in this area dating back to 800 A.D., and are politically non-centralised, but regulated by a council of elders from all lineages. Their lineage is the fundamental social building block, it united all decendants of their common ancestor, known as wakoma. The Bobo lineage is comprised of the people who share the same house, with the head of the household or father of the house being called the wakoma.

Their language and culture is more closely related to that of the Mande, the Bamana and the Miniaka, than to their Voltaic neighbors the gurunsi and Mossi. The Bobo tribe’s economy relies mainly on their agricultural activity. The major food crops are maize, yams, red sorghum, and pearl millet. Cotton is also a main crop that is sold to textile mills. The Bobo also keeps bees to produce honey. The Bobo tribe believes that every act that takes something from nature has a negative impact. Before planting and harvesting their crops the Bobo tribe holds rituals to ask permission from the nature spirits and their creator god, Wuro. They believe Wuro is responsible for nature’s equilibrium and bringing everything into harmony. Wuro cannot be described or represented by sculpture.

Masks are used to bring bush spirits to chase evil from their community and to purify the land for successful planting and harvest. These masks are made from fiber, cloth, leaf, and wood and have geometric designs. They are usually worn with costumes made from leaf and fiber. The purification rituals last for three days and are usually before the planting season and after the harvest. The masks are also used at men’s initiations and funerals. During funeral rituals the wearers of the Bobo masks comfort the spirits of the dead and partake in a series of rituals that lead them to the afterworld. Funeral ritual dances are full of energy and use drums and bells designed to wake the dead and instruct them to leave.

The Bobo tribe also created art with bronze which has geometric designs. Women of this tribe wear bronze anklets to protect themselves from bush spirits. Tick birds are a popular in bronze ornaments as they are valued for its symbolic relationship to bush cows and buffaloes. The bush cow is the most popular animal used in the jewelry of the Bobo people.