241217 - Extremly Rare African Bobo Protection Altar Mask - Mali.

Bobo statue - Protection fetish - Iron, wood, goat hair, - Mali.

This type of fetish was placed on an altar. It was intended for the protection of warriors.

It is made of a perforated metal frame covered with hair.

At the top appears inside a wooden plane and at the top a point. (worn and a little damaged).

The object is heavy (3 kg), it measures 60 cm high.

This mask is collected in the first half of the 20th century, with Certificate of Authenticity. 

Bobo people have lived in western Burkina Faso for centuries and are believed to be one of the oldest groups in the area. They are a rural, decentralized people, and agriculture is a primary part of their day to day existence. The dry season (tagaho) and harvest time (birewa danga) are two major times of the year when ceremonies involving masks occur. A central tenant of the Bobo belief system involves maintaining and restoring the balance of the world initially set up by Wuro. These balances such as male/female, village/nature, and cold/hot are fragile and humans easily disrupt them in their everyday existence. For example, harvesting involves bringing crops from the bush into the village and thus requires special ceremonial attention to restore the village/nature balance. Unlike most neighboring groups, the Bobo are very conservative and guard their religious traditions from outside influence. This may be because too much change could easily upset the careful balance and pollute the world, as it did during French colonial days when enforcing private property and land ownership severely altered the Bobo way of life.