Tribal Art

Old fertility doll adopting the classic morphology, but whose narrow head ending in a point remains rarer. From the leather the sheath to the upper part of the neck that a fine braid delimits. Beautiful patina of use, contact abrasions and desication cracks.
The hope of a pregnancy is accompanied in certain groups by initiation rites. Wooden figures are then carved, some reflecting both genders, in many cases clothed in beads and clothes. During the period of confinement, the doll, which becomes a child who asks to be fed, washed and anointed on a daily basis, becomes the girl's only companion. After the initiation, they will be carried on the women's backs, or tied around their necks. The wooden dolls (biiga), carved in their free time by the blacksmiths of Burkina Faso, are offered to little girls, as to boys, by their parents. The wealthiest Mossi buy plastic dolls. The doll will not be abandoned after the child is born, the mother will continue to take care of it. If the birth did not take place, the doll will be offered as an educational toy to a child. (Elisabeth L.Cameron)