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Key Moments in Life: Initiation 7 |
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Among the Bamana, men and women may join a number of initiation societies or associations (jow). The most senior of these is called kore and is concerned with the most esoteric knowledge of humankindıs place in the universe and our relation to the creator God, Faro. The kore is further divided into several groups, which are identified with animals and which recreate the characteristics of those animals as metaphors for the virtues and vices of humankind. The monkeys are capricious and mischievous, the horse is hard working, the hyena is cruel and gluttonous, and the lion, represented by this mask, is proud, powerful, and wise. The performances of kore masks are intended to mock human life and the physical world and to emphasize that members of kore are able to transcend the physical world and exist on a more spiritual level. |
Bamana people, Mali |
