Bassari people
The Bassari are an ethnic group who live primarily in
Population
The total population is estimated to be 15,000.
On the Guinean side of the border, the Bassari mainly live in a group of villages collectively referred to as Bokore, which can be translated to "Those of Kore," Kore being the name of the initiation society within the region.
Cuisine
The Bassari are subsistence farmers for the most part, growing rice, millet, earth-peas and fonio.[7] Within Bassari Country around 80% of production is for self consumption, as the off season from August to November are particular harsh agriculturally. The Bassari particularly have been documented to stock pile food for 2–3 years in advance, which also opens up opportunity for market trade with neighboring communities.[8]
The Festival of the Fonio is an annual event used to popularize the usage of fonio as a local crop and food in the Kedougou region. Previous to the festival, fonio was often associated with the poor, so the event serves to legitimize fonio's cultural significance and its usage as an adaption to climate change.[2] The festival is largely thanks to a local Economic Interest Group ran by Adja Aissatou Aya Ndiaye, who has become a cultural hero in the area as someone who gives training to local woman in industry skills. Participants have dubbed her the Queen of the fonio, and the festival serves as a place for political speeches, traditional singing and dances, and the gifting of offerings made to Ndiaye.[9]: 157–158
Language
The Bassari speak
Religion
Most of the group are
The mythology of the
To the Bassari male adulthood is defined by entrance into the Bassari sect of the Kore initiation society, which in turn has three distinct levels of adulthood, each lasts six years and has its own initiation process. Initiation into the first stage occurs when a boy is fifteen, in which he is temporarily separated from his family to undergo a symbolic rebirth as an initiate into the society. This rebirth is mythically possible due to an entity known as endaw, which is a formless being that exists as a guttural sound performed by initiates, and this sound is its only mode of existence. Endaw is often represented visually as a leafy mass or a chameleon. Each of the three levels of the society gives initiators access to the roles of masks and kore, which in turn creates six modes of simulated entities.[3]: 141-
Kore, along with many other initiation societies were almost destroyed under the Sekou Toure regime of the 1960's. Toure's Militia performed public unmasking ceremonies in front of women and children in order to undermine the cultural relevancy of the society, followed by a beating of the men and burnings of ritual objects.[3]: 140 The Bassari tradition however has survived.
Art
The Bassari have a long standing tradition of metallurgy which have been included in European records since the late 19th century. Importing materials through trade with the Coniagui for iron ore and Fula for copper, the Bassari process these metals within their own line of blacksmiths to craft tools and jewelry.[1]: 48
Bassari initiation masks most commonly involve rings of hexagons around a circular center. Though the true meaning behind this motif is a secret held by their initiation society, it is theorized to be symbolic of the hierarchy of knowledge involving the progression of levels within the society. This is deduced by the significance of the number six within Bassari precolonial mathematics, and its relationship to the Bassari calendar as well as divination rites.[12]: 618–620
Bassari dancers often employ special rattles known as Bamboyo. Each Bamboyo is composed of twenty plaited capsules, with each capsule being folded in an antiprism using a single palm leaf.[13]: 52
References
- ^ OCLC 44086513.
- ^ a b "Senegal Celebrates 'Day of Fonio' as Food Insecurity Looms". VOA. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
- ^ S2CID 144695501.
- ^ University of Michigan, Violations Against Indigenous Africa (2019-04-21). "Bassari People in Senegal". Indigenous Africa. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ISBN 978-0-429-71247-0.
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ Angelo (2020-02-27). "Beyond the local: The geographical spread of climate change impacts in the Bassari landscape (Senegal) - LICCI News". LICCI. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
- ^ République du Sénégal (2021). "Pays Bassari Proposition d'inscription sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial Nomination File 1407" [Translated from French] (PDF). UNESCO World Heritage Centre. p. 26.
- ^ OCLC 1323454051.
- ^ "The religion and rituals of the Bassari". Exploring Africa. 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
- ^ Manfred Lurker. The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons. Routledge, Nov 11, 2004 pg. 191
- ^ Eglash, Ron (1995). "Scaling hexagons in a Bassari Initiation Mask". The Mathematics Teacher. 88 (7). National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: 618, 620 – via JSTOR.
- S2CID 253811033– via JSTOR.