DIVINITIES, LORDS OF THE STEPPE AND ALL THE FORCES OF NATURE

Considered to be personifications of magical powers, the divinities are to able appear to people in order to pass on to them their most secret knowledge. Meeting with other invisible creatures, and in particular, with the ghosts of the dead who exist in an uncontrollable space, they are the favored partners of sorcerers, for whom they are patrons in soothsaying. In numerous myths, the divinities are active at the moment of the creation of humankind while the belief in their spiritual bond with a human being from the period prior their birth is a frequently recurring leit-motif.

For the Moose4 people, for example, every birth of a child is related to the close participation of the kinkirga (plural - kinkirsi), one of the local divinities designated to protect those living in its territory.

6 The Moose, (plural of Moaga), known as 'Mossi'. In the colonial period, they represented the majority of the population of Burki­

na Faso, inhabiting the central region of the country.

68.69 (4)

According to these beliefs, a woman desiring to have a child should, with the aid of an offering suggested by the sorcerer, direct a good’ kinkirga with the aim of ensuring the safe arrival of her future child into the world through its protection from the activities of hostile divinities. Their hos­

tility towards people would result from neglecting to worship them by those under their protection.

Sentenced to being forgotten through lack of wor­

ship, they would take revenge by causing disease, and even the death of infants. The kinkirsi are de­

picted by the Moaga as beings living in pairs at the hooves of a goat and breeding as pairs of twins.

Therefore, the birth of twins should be favoured by them in particular. Through their relations with the divine world, twins have been predestined to gain power and peculiar knowledge which will make them different from other people, poten­

tially able to expose sorcerers. However, in the case of normal births, precise actions to the new­

born and its kinkirga are predicted. The "twin" of the latter, having been left all alone in the world,

In the same way as the Moose tribe, many other peoples view divinities as identical nat­

ural entities and the many representations of minor figures,presented alongside each other indicate the popularity of the cult devoted to these beings. These objects have basic com­

mon characteristics: a figure in a standing posture, hands on their hips, legs apart and slightly bent, during which certain details al­

low one to recognize the identity of their users.

Pendants depicting figures of with unclear an­

thropomorphic characteristics, standing on a trapezoid, for example, are very common in the western part of the region through which the River Volta flows. Very similar to each other, the pendants belonging to the Toussain people8 clearly differ in the "object" which the two fig­

ures hold in their hands. This is a type of lattice from palm fibers whose production and use is supposed to have been passed to a certain old woman by a pair of divinities who appeared to

p. 69 (1,31

will undoubtedly try to connect with its twin, thereby en­

dangering the life of the newborn baby. In this way, from birth until weaning and up to the moment when speech develops, the child and its kinkirga are the subjects of spe­

cial care in order to dismiss any doubts or to increase pro-tection of the vulnerable child. The production of amulets

her and gave her the secret to producing beer from millet. Even today women from this tribe consider this tool for the preparation of yeast as essential for the fermentation of beer. This object, traditionally sewn to­

gether from leather, is worn by women on their shoulder in order to protect certain phases of the transformation of millet into beer.’

depicting a pair of 'divinities’ which Moose children wear attached to their wrists is inspired by this concept.7

Apart from fulfilling a protective function, this type of object is aimed at gaining, or rather, 'bewitching' the kinkirga with the shiny and complementary image of its twin left behind in another world, a kind of mirror reflection which causes it to desire to remain with it and the child who he is carrying and, in this manner, fulfils the role of protector which suits him. This type of amulet works only by seducing susceptible beings with its form, during which every other object assigned to opposing the activities of hostile powers should possess the power to repel them.

Other small objects depicting very thin figures, in­

dividually or in pairs, present a different, more peculiar style: a long neck, a triangular head ending in a pointed beard and a flat, broad nose. The hands placed on the abdomen and elbows at the back indicate a bending of the body, more or less emphasized, which give even more emphasis to the linked legs, as well as the feet melting into the flat base in the shape of a triangle. A "hairstyle"

in a circular or pointed shape with swellings all over the head recall the traditional textile cap worn in the past by

p. 76 (3.6)

7 Vincent Sedogo 2009, Moaga anthropologist, personal infor­

mation.

8 The population living in the west of Burkina Faso at the foot of Banfora cliff.

9 According to Sali Sebe. The Toussain region, 2008.

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11.7

the Gouin people10 11 which Binger came across and de­

scribed.11

10 The Gouin, who call themselves the Ciranba (sing. Cerleno), previ­

ously known as skilful casters of metal. See: M. Dacher, Histoire du pays gouin et de ses environs, Paris 1997, Découvertes du Burkina.

11 L.G. B i n g e r, Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi, Paris 1892, Chapter XIV, pp. 267-268.

12 A population residing in the north-east of the Ivory Coast, not far from Bouna and Bondoukou.

Many hypotheses have appeared regarding the origin of these quite old and tiny bronze items considered typical for the Kuulango people12. There are many signs, however, that allow one to associate them with old depictions typical for the Lorhon which is an endogamous caste of pewter makers and potters originating from Mande whose families, follow­

ing the trade and vast migration routes, settled in close vi­

cinity to communities for whom their knowledge was neces­

sary. This has allowed the numerous pewter makers from that region to adapt and copy the old models of their "mas­

ters" using the forgotten technique of molding/casting wax.

It is interesting that archeological works carried out in 1995 near Sampa in Kuuolo Katta village, in mid-west Ghana, which was gradually over by numerous communit­

ies, among others the Gan and Lorhon people, revealed many items similar to the figures which are considered

to be gold weights and whose production refers to the period between the 11th and 13th centuries.

Due to the very specific form of these tiny objects, one can easily understand that many peoples that used to meet thanks to a system of exchange wanted to acquire the exceptional casting abilities of the Lorhon, entrusting them with the production of the most exclusive, as well as the most ordinary items. This was conducive to the dissemination of an ever more perfected art form, from which probably resulted the specific way of presenting the

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WITCH DOCTORS, THE MASTERS OF DANGER AND