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| Figures carved in soapstone by the Mende in Sierra Leone, which were set up in shelters to protect the crop. The figures are similar in style and are thought to be similar in date to ivories carved in the 16th century for Portuguese traders in the adjacent Sherbro area. |
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| French spellion for the Arabic term Muid, meaning 'disciple' or 'novice';. Mouridism is a Sufi movement steeped in the mystical teachings of a particular saint. |
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| Mouride arts are derived from images and messages of Amadou Bamba who was a Senegalese Sufi pacifist, poet, and saint. Was a Muslim Sufi religious leader in Senegal and the founder of the large Mouride Brotherhood |
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| Sankofa can mean either the word in the Akan language of Akanland that translates in English to "go back and get it" (san - to return; ko - to go; fa - to look, to seek and take) or the Asante Adinkra symbols of a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back, or of a stylised heart shape. |
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| Akan goldweights were used as a measuring system by the Akan people of West Africa, particularly for weighing gold dust which was currency until replaced by paper money and coins. They are referred to locally as mrammou and the weights are made of brass and not gold. at first glance the goldweights look like miniature models of everyday objects. |
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| the ruler of the Ashanti people of Ghana |
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| was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1951 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana. An influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963. |
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| a town in W central Nigeria: one of the largest and oldest Yoruba towns |
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| Of Ile-Ife, was viewed as a god-king. Confined to the palace, his life was lived as a continuous set of rituals. |
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| still in use today, was first employeed in the ancient near east during the fourth millennium. process by which a metal (such as silver, gold, brass or bronze) sculpture is cast from an artist's sculpture. |
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| (olowo) Owo traditions maintain that the kingdom was founded from Ife and that the first ruler(oba) was the youngest son of Oduduwa. A hereditary chief or king among various peoples of Benin and Nigeria.a Yoruba chief or ruler |
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| generally defined as "the power to make things happen" and also refers to the spiritual life force that flows through things, much like the Chinese concept of chi. Ase can also be used to express agreement -- saying "Ase!" can be like saying "Right on!" |
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| A diviner, babalawo, mediates between Orunmila and the human community through the divination process known as ifa, understood to have been instituted by Orunmila himself. The essential sculptural object for ifa is a divination board, opon ifa |
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| is both an orisha and one of the most well-known deities of Yorùbá religion and related New World traditions.He has a wide range of responsibilities: the protector of travelers, deity of roads, particularly crossroads, the deity with the power over fortune and misfortune, and the personification of death, a psychopomp. a spirit of Chaos and Trickery. The Divine Trickster born of ancient myth and found in many cultures across the face of the world, is sometimes known as the Coyote, Raven, Rabbit or Fox. His form changes depending on language and culture. The Yoruba peoples of West Africa, however, know him as Eshu, the divine messenger, who is both loved and feared for his mischief, generosity and hard lessons. |
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| may be interpreted as "head" or "destiny", and embraces a person's past, present, and future. A reference to ori is thus also a reference to fate, the concern of divination. |
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| the lord of iron and war. ferocious and vehement bringer of war. also the founder and champion of civiliation, a maker of paths, tiller of the soil, and builder of towns. oguns embodiement in shrines may merely be a bit of metal. |
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| god of fire, lightening and thunder. associated with the expansion of the Oyo empire in western Yorubaland. A descendant of Oranmiyan was the tyrannical fourth king of Oyo. |
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| masquerade dance garment.Found throughout Yorubaland. |
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| an orisha, meaning "spirit" or "spirits of divine origin,". Was a Yemoja. Bore twins with the fiery thunder god. "love goddess" |
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| orisha of the waters and mother of all living things. Yoruba riverain goddesses. represented by round fans, crowns, and earthenware vessels filled with warter. |
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| The brother of Ogun, deity of the hunters. fabled archer of the gods. The power of this deity is manifest in the speed and accuracy of his arrow, in pridefull assertion of mind and muscle that have been wonderfully honed by the disciplines of forest hunting. |
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