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Art Gallery the Eye and the Hand

mossi

The Mossi

The first Mossi empire was founded during the fifteenth, by invaders from northern Ghana, today the Mossi are the largest tribe in Burkina Faso. The number of two million, they are the only people in the region to have a centralized government, headed by former Zaksoba.

Mossi sculptors are known for their polychrome masks that are worn during festivals, and to keep the crops. These masks that fulfill a function as totem, are carefully guarded when not worn, and their libations are offered in exchange for their protection and assistance.

Three different types of masks can be identified: they seem to correspond to different indigenous peoples living in this region prior to the invasion Mossi XV. The first type is found mostly in the western part of the Mossi, and includes masks decorated with small statues, animal or stylized face. The second type is included in the semicircular masks painted in white and representing positive spirits associated with the savanna. The third type of Mossi mask, called Karanga, is found mostly in the northern part of the country. It has a stylish rounded face topped by a large plate, a totemic animal or a human statue symbolizing an important ancestor. The statues are between 60 and 100cm, and leaders are dead, they are standing on their legs slightly bent arm detached from their bodies, they have a rounded head and a flattened face. They were symbolically buried in the place of the deceased, during important ceremonies while the body of the head was secretly buried.

Dolls with stylized strokes were given to girls after excision to bring them fertility.