ART AND RELIGION OF THE LOBI
By Piet Meyer
Translated by Gisela Dunn
Edited by Cory Gundlach
Copyright 2006 by Christopher Roy

Illustrations

1. THE LOBI
Around 1770 the Lobi migrated from Ghana into Upper Volta. A hundred years later some of them crossed the border into what is today the Ivory Coast on their search for uncultivated land. That is why today only about 60% of the total 160,000 Lobi now live in the southwest corner of Upper Volta, while 65,000 live in the northern Ivory Coast (see Labouret, 1931:27-29, 1958:16-17, 37 and Fieloux, 1976:44-49). The whole area is savanna grown over with bushes and trees. The savanna lies as a middle strip between the Sahel zone in the north and the jungle belt in the south, and extends from west to east through all West Africa. The Lobi are hoe-farmers and live mainly on millet, sorghum and corn (see ill. 5). They breed small livestock and horned cattle, though this is not done for food but mainly for dowries, payment of fines, and sacrifices. Today hunting and fishing supplies little meat because animals have become rare after Europeans brought guns into the country. Therefore the daily millet or corn pudding is generally accompanied by various sauces, which are usually saltless and often bitter tasting. They are prepared by the women out of fruits, leaves and roots which they either planted or gathered from bushes. Traditionally they eat only one meal a day, in the evening after work. The Lobi live in cool mud huts with narrow doors and windows. Their flat roofs are surrounded by raised walls, giving them the appearance of roof terraces, and they remind one of small castles. Until recently, the Lobi were very warlike. Vengeful fights were a common happening, one village fighting against another village, one family group against another. The French colonial regime which had to face a strong and persistent resistance against their efforts to colonialize the Lobi, could scarcely put a stop to this state of permanent unrest and insecurity (see Kambou, 1971, Pere, 1979:397ff). In every house (tyor) lives a minimum family unit (see ill,. 24): a "family chief" (tyuordarkuun), who has absolute authority over the other family members (tyordara), his wife(s), his married sons, who he did not yet "separate" (le) from him, i.e. whom he did not yet grant economical and social independence and who therefore have to work for and live with him, as well as his son's wives(?) and the unmarried children. The men of the house clear the fields and prepare them with hoes for the sowing. The women sow and bring home the ripe cobs carrying them in baskets on their heads. In addition, the men do most of the maintenance work and the crafts. They build and repair houses, carve wood, forge iron and work as brass founders. The women on the other hand take care of the housework. They collect water from a nearby brook, gather wood and carry it home; they crush the different grains in mortars with long, heavy pestles andpulverize them, a time consuming and heavy work, and they prepare meals and finally take care of the small children. In their spare time, they brew millet beer, make pottery and weave baskets and mats. They sell their products themselves and the income is at their disposal. The Lobi don't do any other kind of weaving. Many of these activities are only done during one season. In the rain period (April through October) most of the fieldwork is done, leaving only a little time for other things. During the dry 

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season (November through March) all the other duties and entertainments can be done; repairs and crafts are made, one visits friends and relatives and especially goes to markets, parties and funerals. There they dance, are exuberant, drink fresh brewed millet beer, flirt with women and get to know new people. These kinds of gatherings, as seen on markets, parties and funerals, are otherwise rare in Lobi culture. The "villages" (di) for example do not have village centers or community houses where all inhabitants or even the men of the village can meet. The houses stand far apart (between 50 to 800 meters) and seem to be disbursed randomly over the land. This impression is so strong, that as a visitor, being Lobi or European, usually one cannot tell where one village ends and another village begins. But in spite of this one can talk about villages in the Lobi culture. Why? A village unit is not based on topographical factors as in Europe, but on a system of groupings of neighboring houses living under a certain "thil" (plural "thila"), i.e. an invisible being with supernatural powers and abilities. The individual thil, being the head of the village, gives to the inhabitants of that village the norms (rules) for behavior that have to be followed strictly. These norms are given through a soothsayer. Only rarely do the thila communicate in a different way than through a soothsayer. If one of these norms is broken, the thila punishes that person by making him or somebody in his immediate surroundings ill or bringing bad harvest, accidents or other calamities on that person; they may even kill him. If an extremely important norm has been neglected in very careless way, the thila can even punish the whole village by bringing epidemic into the village or by holding back the rain that is so essential for fields, animals and people. With that the thila is punishing the whole community for an offense against a norm that possibly only one of the villagers committed. What are the behavior norms that a thila ordains? Since these precepts are always formulated in the negative, the Lobi call them "prohibitions" (soser). The prohibitions of one of the village thila could be: You shall not hurt or kill a member of your village, you shall not steal from them or seduce their wives, you shall not cause them any harm, neither in a physically visible nor magically invisible way. The village thil though will also regulate the behavior of the villagers with prohibitions in regards to certain animals, plants, foods, even objects. For example, the thil of Korhogo, a village close to Wourbira, prohibits that long mats (see ill. 4) be taken into his territory. Therefore the people of his village) contrary to other Lobi have to sleep on short mats and wrap their dead in short mats when they inquire of them the cause of their death (see ill. 17). And if people from neighboring villages just bought long mats at a market, they may not cross through Korhogo on their journey home, otherwise the inhabitants of Korhogo - and only they - risk the sanctions of their village thil. Lets summarize: we call a group of neighboring houses a village when it has a common thil and therefore the same norms. These norms, or as the Lobi say prohibitions, regulate the life of the people with each other and their behavior towards certain animals, plants and objects. The village thils creates through these norms the social and political order as well as a feeling of togetherness and trust, which is so necessary in order for the people to live, and in light of the production methods practiced in field and house (and before in war) work together efficiently. The village thil is called dithil (di,"village"). He is personified through a shrine on the village territory (see ill. 32), and a priest, the so called dithildaar ("man of the dithil,Ó often called Lord of the Earth in the ethnological literature) It is this priest who receives the prohibitions of the dithil through a soothsayer and who then passes it on to the members of the village. He is responsible for communication between the villagers and the dithil. The Lobi have a lot of other thila (how these other thila are personified and taken care off will be discussed later). Many of these thila are also heads of social groups and put prohibitions on them that can be different in each case. 

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For example, the paternal and maternal relationships have their own thil; markets and celebrations of initiation are watched over by different thila; and even every house has its own thila who regulates the behavior of each family member in the same way as the village thil does. This fact is extremely important because the Lobi community does not have any centralized political, administrative or juridical authority to set, institute and guarantee social order. This task therefore has to be done by the thila. They are the ones that give the norms in the Lobi community. To better understand the position of the thila in Lobi culture, we need to describe how they got their position, or how the Lobi got their thila. 

2. THE THILA
 2.1. Why God gave the Thila to the Lobi  
In the beginning, so goes the story, the people lived completely happy (we would say: like in paradise). They were fed by "God" (thangba yu) with meat and therefore did not have to work. They did not know sickness or early death - one only died of old age - and there were neither fights nor wars because they obeyed the "great prohibitions" (soser kontena) that God had given them personally. Kherhim Da (Korhogo, March 1980) tells it this way: God had told the people: "Do not steal, do not rob women, do not kill and do not threaten each otherÑstay in one accord." But people grew in numbers. The men needed women and so they started to rob women from each other. This caused fighting and war: "It started with the women; we went against each other and started to shoot arrows. The consequence was that God turned away from us and let us go our own ways." He took the meat with which he had fed them away from the people and gave them the hoe to dig for roots. Millet was unknown to the Lobi at that time. God brought on them "sickness" (kho) and early "death" (kir) and left them forever. That is how the Lobi learned sadness, helplessness and sorrow. But in order to leave them not completely on their own, God gave them the thila for help, beings that were to help them in their new situation. He gave the thila the order that from now on they should " take care" (yaali) of the well being (bopha) of the Lobi and to "saveÓ their bodies from sickness, hunger, and death. Until now the thila have tried to fulfill this extremely important task in two ways. For one, they conveyed usually through a soothsayer various goods and ceremonies. For example they "showed" (nereri) the Lobi effective "medications" against sicknesses, or explained to them how to carry out the dyoro initiation, which is celebrated every seven years on the banks of the Black Volta. And secondly, they promised the Lobi to protect them whenever possible from harm and misfortune and to keep away the sorrows which God had brought to the Lobi after their first disastrous norm-break. We say "whenever possible to protect.Ó The thila made their promise of protection dependent on the condition that their prohibitions and "orders" (bonoo) were followed by the people. And that is what the thila have done since then: They only protect the people when they in turn respect the prohibitions and orders (what they are will be discussed later) which have been conveyed to them through a soothsayer; they take care of the well-being of people only after their wishes have been satisfied. This is the connection to the first chapter. There we called the thila the founder of the norms, who put certain restrictions on people and who punish disobedience with sickness, death and disaster. The Lobi are conscious of that fact and also express verbally that the thila organize the social system of their community, and thereby take care of the people. But in general the Lobi emphasize the protection that the thila give them and the way in which the thila work for the well being of the people. We should not overlook though that we are only talking about two viewpoints here: in the first case it is seen rather from the point of community and the norms necessary to keep this community. In the second case the emphasis is on the individual, i.e. the single Lobi and his need for protection. But God also sent her supernatural beings to the people. The most important ones among them were the "bush-beings" (kontuorsi): small, red haired "people" (tibila) which live in the "bushes" (bon) and work in the fields, but generally stay invisible to people. They taught the Lobi how to soothsay (see Chapter 3.3), how to question a corpse for the cause of his death, how to bury the dead (see Chapter 3.4.3), how to build and play a xylophone and much more. They helped the people to build their "culture" after they were thrown out of "nature" by the thila after their first breach of the rules. But they don't have the significance in the daily life of the Lobi that the thila have. Contrary to the Lobi they don't cause the making of any clay- wood- or metal- objects in the area of Wourbira. Therefore we will concentrate in the following on the thila.

 2.2. The Position of the Thila between God and Men
 In order to understand the thila, we have to inspect closer their position in the Lobi-cosmos. For that purpose we will compare the thila as well as the bush-beings and God with men and so try to comprehend the specifics in their character. We could include other supernatural beings in this comparison, but God and the bush-beings differ in essential features from the thila and therefore can help us especially well illuminate the position of the latter. Let us imagine a pyramid. The base is the people. The further a being is apart from the cosmic position of the people, i.e. the less human in character it is, the higher its position in the pyramid. God, who created the world and to whom it therefore belongs as the people say, reigns over it and stands therefore on top and alone on the pyramid. Underneath him are the thila and a step beneath them the bush-beings. The two latter categories of beings occupy the two planes between God on top and the people on the base. How can such a division be substantiated? How can the various quantities in human characteristics in these three different beings be described? We will use the following three criteria:

1. determine the extent of body and visibility of these beings 
2. describe their character
3. compare their potential for action with that of men

2.2.1 Body and Visibility
When the Lobi broke the first norm in pre-historic times, God disappeared and became as bodiless and invisible to the Lobi as anything can ever be. In their opinion, God now lives behind the great pond or ditch, which surrounds the earth. Usually it is also said that he is "up" (yu) in "Heaven" (thangba, therefore his name thangba yu). Everybody emphasized though, that he might not be identified with heaven itself. Because he is so unreachable, the Lobi don't build any shrines to him. It is more complicated in the case of the thila. They also are invisible and this to such an extent, that this is given as a reason why many questions about them could not be answered. But the thila can manifest themselves in animals or take on the form of things in which they appear to people in the bush (see chapter 2.3.) After such an appearance, they can demand through a soothsayer to have a shrine built for them (this happens when such a meeting is interpreted). Animals, objects, and shrines therefore can be manifestations of the otherwise invisible thila. But it has to be made clear that as some thila say, these manifestations do not represent the real thil but are rather dwelling places for him into which he can slip temporarily without becoming visible themselves. That is why one cannot say just from looking at a certain animal, object or shrine, whether it is inhabited by a thil or not, because  

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thila can leave a shrine. The presence of a thil can only be determined by its actions. Therefore we can say: Like God, thila stay invisible to men permanently. But contrary to God, they can materialize themselves in different ways and that way can be localized at least temporarily. Contrary to them, the bush-beings are principally visible. They can show themselves in their true form to anybody they want to give or tell something, or to whom they want to harass with various tricks. But at the same time, they will be invisible for other people. Bush-beings thereby also differ in their character from people. This relative similarity between people and bush-beings can be seen in their appearance. They [bush-beings] are the only ones among the supernatural beings discussed here that possess a body similar to that of people and therefore can get sick and die, contrary to God and the thila. Bush-beings are described as beings not bigger than 7-8 year old children, with red hair growing from head to toe, and because of that, look extremely ugly. The men have genitals and the women breasts, which hang down to the ground and which they can throw back over their shoulders to make fun of the people which are smaller in that respect.

 2.2.2. Character
God does not have any human characteristics. He is neither gracious nor just. He predestines the fate of each person before his birth and follows unknown standards. He can in no way be moved later to change this predestined fate in a positive or negative way; therefore sacrifices to him are meaningless. On the other hand, God is not vengeful and can be cursed without reproach. This is not true for the thila. They constantly act according to the human way of thinking: ÒI give to you so that you give to me.Ó They have wishes, which are not always understood by the Lobi, but which nevertheless have to be obeyed in order for the thila to do what the Lobi expect of them (see Chapter 2.1). In that way the thila are more human than God. They possess other human characteristicsÑsome times too human for the Lobi. In doing their "work" they can be lazy or busy, can forget or be responsible, mean or kind. If they go on a trip with their "owner," they can get tired. They can even envy other thila and try to disrupt their work in the human world because of that. But one cannot talk of the thila as having human character in all areas. For example a thila cannot be called dumb or intelligent. He can only be "dangerous" to various degrees. Often the behavior of men and thila is incomparable and therefore incomprehensible for the Lobi. This is not true for the bush-beings whose motives behind their behavior are clear in every detail. (As for example their formerly mentioned habit of throwing their genitals and breast over their shoulders.)

2.2.3. Potential for Action
While God, in maximum contrast to the people, is able to create life out of nothing, the thila only have the ability to hinder or stop life processes, or on the other hand, keep distractions away. For example, they cannot make the harvest of their owners grow faster. Therefore, it is wrong to say that certain thila take care of the fertility of the fields. They can only protect the harvest from too much rain or draught, or from destruction by enemies, envious people or "witches" (duntundara), and in that way let everything grow under the order that God had established. On the other hand, if they want to punish a family for breaking a rule, they can give the harvest up to changing climate or to the destruction through neighbors, they can put a sickness on the harvest, or let it rot. The bush-beings are limited in these abilities. The Lobi say that they [bush-beings] indeed have been given stronger thila by God and are therefore happier and mightier than men, but since they are subject to sickness, hunger and death the bush-beings also are dependent on their thila and their thila are identical to those of men.

We will see later that we can also put the wooden statues of the Lobi on one level with the bush-beings between thila and the people. We can now determine better the position of the thila. Obviously, they are in a middle position between God and men. In behavior, they are part of both and are therefore especially qualified to mediate between those two. We have already mentioned that the Lobi have an enormous number of thila. These thila are distinguished by name and can be separated into larger groups through native terms. We are going to concentrate on two groups: 1. The wathila, thila that can be found in the bush itself, and the 2. thila, whom one can "befriend" (gir woo). These two groups are responsible for the wood, clay, iron, and brass objects which the thila order through a soothsayer.

2.3. The Thila that can be found (wathila)
In principle, one can get into possession of a thila in three different ways. Only those thila that can be called whatila, are those which are "seen" (yer) in the bush and then are "built" (thiini) in form of a shrine at home.  Men as well as women, adults as well as children can find wathila. They can neither be bought nor sold but only handed down to the children. But the children in turn cannot pass them on to, their children. Wathila are only inherited by the children from their parents and never from the grandparents. How can a wathil be found? To put it simply, a person finds an object usually made of iron and finds out later through a soothsayer that he has met a thil for whom he has to build a shrine. In the eyes of the Lobi though, such a meeting is not accidental. It is deliberately brought about by that thil who wants to enter into a person's house in order to demand sacrifices and other performances. In order to get the attention of the chosen person, the thil will let something extraordinary and "strange" (ghul) happen, so that that person will suspect immediately that it could only have been a thil. In general, that person will then go to a soothsayer to find out whether he has really met a thil (which does not have to be the case). If so, he will ask what the thil wants him to do. But if that certain person does not pay any attention to the strange "signs" (gine) of the thil and does not go to a soothsayer, the thil will get angry and will soon give more and even painful signs (accidents, sickness, etc.) in the surroundings of that person until he is forced to (a) go to a prophet and (b) take the orders he receives seriously. The following is a description of a meeting with a wathil (plural wathila): A person is alone in the bush and suddenly sees something radiating so strongly that he stands still as if blinded (the Lobi say: "with a dirty face" iye bisitni). Once he has recovered, he will find an iron object in front of him. Since not all iron objects in the bush are radiant, he suspects to have met a thila. Similar reactions will come if he sees something suddenly falling from the sky and he also stands still with a "dirty face"; or if a snake which he tried to kill with a stick suddenly changes into a piece of iron. The regularity with which a person meets one and the same object can also be a sign. Diro Da (Wouriba, February 1980) in the following tells the story of how he found his first wathil: "I was shepherding my father's cows when I was a small boy. One day I found a piece of iron about as long as a finger. The next day I found it again although I was shepherding in a different place. I threw it away again. A few days later I found it again in a different place. It looked like it had two legs and was like a "statute" (bateba). I left it there again. Then one day we went swimming. Suddenly I had the feeling a snake bit me. I screamed and kicked it. The same piece of iron flew to the shore. The older boys told me immediately to take it home to my parents. I gave it to my mother. When I had grown up, I tried three times in vain to kidnap a woman with her approval. It would not work and I did not understand why. So I went to a soothsayer who found out that when I was a small boy I had found a iron statue which I had given to my mother, and that had been a thil who was asking me now that I was a man, to build a shrine for him. At first I could not even remember the statue and asked my mother. Indeed, all these years she had kept that little object I had given her as a child. My father erected a shrine on the house terrace and put the iron statue in it." This first shrine to bebuilt for a wathil is called the thangba shrine. On request of the wathil, the father of the person who found the thil usually builds it on the roof terrace. This shrine is only a "clay cone" (jakure). A pot (thil blo "shrine pot") is put on top or on the side. The "first woman of the house" (tyordarkher) i.e. the woman who was married first by the head of the family, will fill the pot regularly with water for the thil. Finally, the object that has been found is placed into the earth cone. The object is called "the eye of the thil" (thil yire) or more general the "sign of the thil" (thil gine; for different wathila/thangba shrines see ill. 35, 37). But this first shrine is not yet the active shrine.   It neither protects its owner, nor does it give prohibitions or orders through the soothsayer. The wathil first has to be personified with a second shrine within the houseÑeither in the room of the first woman of the house, or in a small room specially built for that purpose (thildu "shrine room", see ill. 24,39, 60ff). Only then can he be "regulated" (gbiser) with the necessary sacrifices.  This is the condition necessary for the thil to start working for his owner. (The installation of a shrine is always done in two steps: first it is built (thini) and then "regulated" (gbiser) with the appropriate sacrifices.)   So the second shrine is built inside the house. The person appointed by the thil, often the brother of the mother of the wathil owner, erects the requested clay cones and puts the "eye of the thil" inside after it has been brought down from the shrine on the roof terrace.  He installs next to it all the objects that the thil ordered: wooden and clay figures, ceramics, iron and brass objects, stones, seashells, and others (see ill. 39, 65ff). Then he sacrifices the requested animals over it and recites the necessary prayers with the owner of the thil. With that, the thil has become "cold" (we). Before he was still "heated" (perori) like a sick man who has not been "regulated" with the adequate (i.e. thil-given) medicines. (Gbiser is also an expression used for sick people).  Now the wathil can begin to give his owner orders and prohibitions and protect him and his family. What do the prohibitions refer to? As the dithila (village thila) order the life of the villagers, the wathil tries to guarantee a peaceful and smooth corporate life among the members of the minimal production unit who, in spite of tension and conflicts .are daily dependent on living and working together. The wathil though does not only regulate the relations between people, but as is the case with the dithil, also their relations to animals, plants, foods and objects. One principal is valid here as much as with the dithil: if the prohibitions that are usually kept secret from outsiders and therefore create a sense of identity for the members of the group are kept, the people are protected by the wathil. He "follows" (kpaari) them "like a dog" (aho bun) and defends them against witches, sorcery and other dangers.  Finally, the wathil can request a third shrine ("bitter shrine"). This altar is [fig. 4?] erected either outside in front of the entrance door or in a small house (thilbityor, "thil child house"), which is built especially for that purpose (see ill. 8, 44, 45).  Since meanwhile the first shrine on the roof terrace was regulated, the wathil can protect the house from three strategic points against invisible enemies: from the entrance door, the roof terrace and the room of the first wife or shrine room. If the wathil who is also called diulothil ("thil of the morning") feels that the three strategic points are too weak, he can have a second wathil ("thil of the noon") or in rare cases even a third wathil ("thil of the evening") come. Again, the head of the family will find objects in the bush under strange circumstances. He will then hear through a soothsayer that he has found a wathil for whom he has to build one, two or even three shrines. This way a person can own nine wathil shrines. They all will give him prohibitions or orders, either individually or together. Since this is usually connected with extreme and great burdens for the family, the head of the household will try not to take more then one wathil in and will ward off or attempt to ward off other wathila.

2.4. The Thila that can be "taken" (gbaari) or "eaten" (dun)
While the wathil is a personal possession and cannot be sold or transferred by the person who found him in the bush, the thila to be taken or to be eaten belong to a larger number of individuals because they can be bought, or as the Lobi say, "taken" (gbaari). To be more exact: A person asks the closest owner of the desired thil if he can personify that thil with a shrine in his own house. The first owner does not completely give up his possession, but shares it from then on with the "buyer." Therefore, the owner can pass on his thil (if the thil agrees to it) to an unlimited number of houses (i.e. can have him personified in these houses with new shrine. Through shrines, a thil can be spread in an amazingly short time over a large area. What are the advantages of that thil over the wathil in spite of his high price? Contrary to the wathila, they are very often special, or in a certain function and are therefore more effective than the wathil.  For example, they fight witches and sorcerers much more offensively and brutally than the wathil, who in general concentrate on the defense of the house.  In some cases, the gbaari also have the ability to harm or kill enemies magically.  Or they guarantee success in war, in the search for a wife, riches or luck.  If provided with the appropriate sacrifices, they can be used for just about any undertaking.   Finally, they often possess very effective medicines. Certain gbisaar can have more than one special ability. The Lobi and their neighbors know a huge number of these thila. Some of them are: bulkia (ill. 46), mase (iii. 48), khaar (iii. 47), nata (iii. 64), danyiir (ill. 53,55,56), milkuur (iii. 54), dakiri (ill. 49,50), bekur, kosami, baburu, senyo, tyober, gar, sindi and nyhermase. They all personified by different shrines as the various illustrations show.  These thila also have prohibitions that the new owner will find out when the old owner builds the shrine in his house and "regulates" (gbiser) it with sacrifices that are different in each case.  At that time, they also find out what roots and leaves are necessary for the preparation of the medicine that that thil has. The owner of a thil who can be taken is called "the man" of the thil. For example, the owner of a mase is called masedaar, "man of mase," the owner of a bulkia is called the bulkiadaar, "man of bulkia.Ó It is said that they all have "become friends" with their thil (gir wo, an expression not used for the friendship between humans). One can also become friends with thila through "eating" (dun, a word also used for eating in different contexts). This method is much cheaper than the taking of thila. Afterward, with a loud voice, the thil of one's choice has been asked for protection against witches or sorcerers, or for help in certain undertakings (ill.47) his medicine (thii) mixed with millet pudding is eaten. This way the thil is actually taken into the body and can permanently watch (kieeri) over the owner. With this blending with a thil, it could also be said that the entered the thil now provides a further advantage over the wathil who cannot be eaten and which always have to "follow"(kpaari) a person in order to protect him and can get tired and lose their owners. This danger does not exist with the thila that can be taken. But if a thil is eaten, he cannot be passed on to another person because he is not owned through a shrine. However, those who take a thil eat of course also his medicine, and that way secure his permanent protection.

Excursion to the thildara
Until about twenty years ago, most villages had one or two men who owned a large number of thila and personified them through various shrines in shrine rooms, on the roof terrace or in front of the house. These men were called thildara (singular thildar), Òthil men.Ó For the greater part, they have disappeared today because of western civilization and medicine. Usually these men did not become thildara by their own free will but were forced to it by their wathila. They possessed "hard" (kiere), "dangerous" (puo) and "large" (kontin) wathila who had the ambition to become powerful and famous together with their owners. In order to reach this goal, they required extremely many and often very expensive performances from their owners. For one thing they ordered many times to be "regulated" with important sacrifices and many objects such as wooden and clay statues, shrine pots and metal objects, in order to gain more "power" (fanga, a word also used for human power). With this power they not only protected the members of the house, but also offered their services to non-members, something that common wathila never do. Secondly, they forced their owners to take other thila who specialized in those areas in which they themselves felt too weak. That way these thila made sure that their owners could offer a great variety of services and therefore became rich and famous. On one hand, the thildara had wathila who repeatedly required objects for their shrines for frequent regulations. On the other hand they had many thila that also always meant many shrines, and the thildara had by far the largest collection of clay -and wooden statues. It is difficult today to imagine these shrine rooms. From the statements of certain people, some of these rooms contained forty, fifty, or even more statues. Sometimes the opinion was heard that certain thila, which can be taken today, were originally wathila. It is possible that these wathila were so called hard wathila, who after successive regulations who were able to operate more and more outside of the house of their owners until finally they became thila who could be taken.

2.5. Other wathila
 Though the thila we have talked about so far, the village thil (see Chapter l), the wathil, and the thila to be taken and to be eaten, are the ones that speak mostly through a soothsayer in divinations, there are other thila that are considered just as important by the Lobi. For example "thre," the shrine build for the dead father about 8 to 10 years after his death, which he orders through a soothsayer, appears seldom in consultations, but is one of the most feared thila in every Lobi household. With his prohibitions, he controls the behavior of the family members during the planting of the millet, the basic food of the Lobi. He does this by ordering for example, that there be no fights during fieldwork. Later he watches carefully and strictly over the fair distribution of the millet to the wives by the father of the family, because favoring one wife and her children over the other wives and their children can lead to sorcery of these wives against the favored one. The goal of the thre is to prevent anything that hinders the work atmosphere. Finally, he controls the correct use of the millet. If one of these prohibitions is not followed, the thre punishes fast and much harder for example than the thil punishes disobedience against his rules. It is the opinion of the Lobi that the sharpness of the sanctions of the thre reflects the outstanding ecumenical significance, which the millet has in the life of the Lobi. It seemed to us that this harshness is one of the reasons why the thre relatively seldom speaks to the people through a soothsayer, since his orders are obeyed sooner because his sanctions are feared so much.
The thre is the only shrine in the area of Wourbira that isbuilt for a dead person. This shrine can be passed down to one more generation, i.e. a man who built for his father can pass it on to his youngest son who in turn cannot pass it on to his son. Therefore, the great grandfather is already forgotten and cannot be personified anymore by a shrine (typical for bilinear tribes, see Goody 1961). That is why, contrary to common statements in earlier, especially art-ethnological literature, one cannot talk about an ancestral cult (worship) in the Lobi culture. In chapter one, we briefly mentioned the thila who are the head of the maternal and paternal family ties. They also regulate, with their prohibitions the relationship between members of the group and between them and animals, plants, foods and objects. But rarely or not at all can this be said of "mountains" "mountain holes" (kaar), "streams" (miir) and "dangerous places" (ba puo) which reveal thila-like qualities and which "belong" (bine) nobody and therefore everybody. Theycan be approached with sacrifices in times of need. But since they do not watch over a group of people they don't give prohibitions. This ties together with the fact that they don't request wooden, clay, iron, or brass objects through a soothsayer.

3. Communication between thila and men
3.1. The soothsayer
In the eyes of the Lobi, thila are bodiless (see Chapter 2.2.) and therefore cannot talk like people. But if the thila want to take care of the well-being (bopha) of the people and keep up the order in the community, they have to call the attention of the people to the breach of a norm and tell them exactly how to make up for it. The opportunity for this exchange of information is given through the soothsayer. He is the mediator and the translator between the thila and the people. Usually the soothsayer is a man who was forced by his wathil to become a soothsayer. Only 20% of all soothsayers are women. It is justified to talk about "being forced" because the person who found out through a soothsayer that he has to give advice to the people practically without payments in addition to his regular chores, willfirst try to avoid that "order" (bonoo). He is going to wait for further signs of his wathil, and will question five or ten other soothsayers before he agrees to his calling. Under great physical and material sacrifices stubborn individuals can defy their wathil for years, but the thil will have no sympathy for the arguments of the defying owner, and use harsher and harsher measures like bad harvest, sicknesses and even death, to force his will upon him. One will ask why there is such a stubborn resistance against the calling to be a soothsayer. The following reasons were given by the Lobi: A soothsayer usually cannot turn down any clients whocome for consultations without risking the sanctions of his wathil. An exemption can only be made if someone in the family is seriously ill or someone died, or if the soothsayer himself is sick or busy with sacrifices at that time. This impossibility of turning down clients is even more tiring as a Lobi soothsayer will be visited on the average by four or five clients per day and on peak days even fifteen to twenty clients. And that although about every ninth man between 25 and 70 years is an active soothsayer and they are distributed relatively evenly over the land. Since a consultation lasts at least one half hour, "the soothsayer does not even see the sun on those peak days" (Sagie Da, Gbomblora, February 1977). In other words, a soothsayer throughout the year will have less time for fieldwork and other jobs than a person who is not a soothsayer. This hurts the soothsayer even more since he practically earns nothing through his divinatory work. Per consultation, he will receive 5 cowries if he soothsays in his house, or 20 cowries if he goes to a place chosen by the client. Soothsayers also do not have a higher status and don't enjoy special privileges. If they soothsay especially well, they merely gain the prestige that every Lobi gains if he has better command of his work than other Lobi
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(like farming, dancing, wood carving, etc.) Finally, a soothsayer rarely soothsays for himself.  If he has a serious problem he is going to consult another soothsayer who is as unbiased as possible, i.e. one who lives as far away as possible. Being a soothsayer therefore means to give a lot of time for other people without the soothsayer himself profiting from it. That is why every Lobi tries to get away from the pressure of becoming a soothsayer. But I have never heard of a Lobi who successfully resisted his wathil. The one chosen for this calling to divination does not have to go through any training. That fact is one of the reasons for the low social standing and low payments. Having been a client himself in countless consultations, and having watched different soothsayers at their relatively simple ritual, and even participated actively, he knows how to greet the thila and afterwards question him and how to check the results of the consultation. He merely has to pass a test-consultation of an older soothsayer, i.e. by questioning a thil he has to find out the problem that the soothsayer who sits next to him is thinking of, and what his motive could have been for asking for a consultation. Then he has become a soothsayer himself, and can, or rather has to, accept clients. "Soothsayer" and "clients" both are called buor in the Lobi language. Using the same word seems to correspond to what was said above. The soothsayer does not stand out by higher income, status, or extensive technical knowledge. Generally, he only became a soothsayer because he wanted to avoid further sanctions by his wathil.

3.2. The Most Important Motives for going to a Soothsayer
 When does a Lobi go to a soothsayer? They answer the question as follows: "A person goes to a soothsayer when something bad has happened or is happening and when he is afraid because he cannot find a way out. A malaria sickness and its various stages will illustrate how the sick person and his environment react and at what time a soothsayer is consulted. Binathe Kambou (Wouriba, March 1977) differentiates between the following symptoms of malaria: 1. The person coughs 2. He sneezes and is stuffed up 3. He has a headache 4. He does not feel well and his bones ache 5. He has a stomach ache and spits out "bad salvia" 6. He throws up, has no appetite and rests 7. He is cold and hot, the whole body shivers, one lies down but can still talk 8. He no longer talks, only answers with "hum" if talked to; he still recognizes people around him 9. He no longer recognizes people, not even their voicesÑthe mother cries 10. The eyes are blank and are similar to those of a catÑall women in the house cry, the neighbors come and cry 11. He dies

 The reaction of the sick person and his environment to these symptoms are as follows: From the third or forth stage on the patient starts taking medicine which he kept at home. If he has European medicine, which is rare, he will also take that. If no medicines work, the family father goes to search upon neighbors and relatives in the area for better drugs. If the patient still gets worse, the father will go to a thildara (see Chapter 2.4.) and he will ask him for stronger (and more expensive) medicine. If this is useless and the sick person reaches stage eight of the symptoms, the father has no other choice but to visit a soothsayer. He knows for sure now that the earthly medicine will not help and therefore not only "natural" causes are responsible for the sickness. There have to be other reasons and the
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soothsayer only can discover them. There are some other reasons for visiting a soothsayer. He is consulted if the harvest of a person is always worse than that of his neighbors, even though he does not work less then they, or if a man tries in vain to kidnap a woman and is unsuccessful although he does everything in his power; if the pots of a potter always break in the firing process, although she uses the same clay and is just as careful in the making of the pots as before. A person will always go to a soothsayer when all his efforts to change an unpleasant situation have availed to nothing. Fear and uncertainty, which are reasons to go to a soothsayer, can also be caused by sudden happenings. An accident or even a sudden death will immediately bring fear that the reason for that tragedy will cause other bad things to happen in the future. Therefore, a person goes to a soothsayer to find out from his thil what caused the misfortune and how he can take care of it as soon as possible. Fear is also caused by omens. If, for example, a dog in the house climbs up on the millstone and licks the millet kernels, it can mean a bad thing for the family. The father will therefore go immediately to a soothsayer to possibly avoid the approaching danger. In all these cases, the Lobi do not go to a soothsayer because they are interested in the future, but because they want to avoid or change a feared misfortune and are trying to find out all possible solutions. Consultations therefore mostly revolve around the past and present of the client. The future is only relevant in as far as it helps today to change problems that could be painful tomorrow.  If possible, the family father himself will go to the soothsayer. With five cowries in his right hand he steps in front of the most important shrines of the house, which are: the first wathil who came into the house, the one inherited from the father, the thre and the most important thil to be taken. He stands in front of each shrine and ÒspeaksÓ (karsi) in a semi-whisper for example the following: ÒListen, thil, I don't know what to do. I am afraid. My youngest daughter is very sick. We have tried everything to heal her, but in vain. If you are responsible for the illness or otherwise know anything about it, follow these five cowries to the soothsayer and there say what you have to say so that she gets well again. Do you understand?Ó (Bindouthe Da, Wourbira, December 1976) In this manner, he speaks before each shrine because he does not know which thil is responsible for the misfortune. Then he goes to a soothsayer. Only rarely will he have a soothsayer come to his house.

3.3. The Consultation
After the client has arrived at the soothsayer, he only tells him, after the traditional greeting, that he wants to "soothsay" (bore) with him. He never mentions in any way either now or at a later point of time, the motive for the "consultation" (no) that brought him there, because the soothsayer has to find that out for himself during the consultation. The soothsayer leads his client into the consultation room; usually the room of his first wife or his shrine room and asks him to be seated. (The photos 73-78 were taken in a consultation which began before sunrise and for that reason took place on the roof terrace of the soothsayer's house.) The soothsayer gets out his divination bag (buorlookaar), sits down (to bul without knowledge) at the right hand of his client. Out of the leather bag he takes the various objects which he uses to soothsay on request of his wathil: a white or reddish "limestone" (mele), with which he draws circles, strokes and waves on the floor, a "iron bell" (giel) with which he later on will greet the "Great" (kontena), one or more leather bags which contain the [cowry for the?] questioning of the thila; "wooden statues" (bateba) which show people or animals in various positions, "sea shells" (khaa), "stones" (bikaar) and in certain cases still other objects. Once he has placed everything in front of him he can begin with the greeting of the
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"great" by holding the iron bell (see 111.78) in his left hand and hitting it in a fast and continuous rhythm. This way he "greets" (fuori) one after another "God" (thangba yu), "the earth" (ti), his thila, the thila of his client, and important thila of the area to which dead soothsayers belong. At the same time, he asks them to add to the success of the consultation. (After a few "proverbs" (sokpar) about the essence and meaning of the divination, he abruptly stops the loud clinging and the greeting. He now opens one of the leather bags and takes out some of the [cowry shells?]. With them, he asks his thila one after the other if he is allowed to soothsay.   If all answers are positive, he can start with the real inquiries. (How the [cowry?] have to fall in order to reveal something will be discussed later.) First, he has to find out from the thila what the motive for the consultation is. With raised voice, he asks the thila questions which they can answer with ÔyesÕ or Ôno,Õ which they indicate through the left hand of the soothsayer.  The left hand of the soothsayer holds the right hand of his client who sits beside him. Both hands will be united before the first question regarding the client and they will stay together until the end of the consultation. In the beginning the soothsayer asks very general questions: ÒDid someone in the family of the client die?" "Is someone sick?" "Has an omen been seen?" "Has blood been shed otherwise?" "Have domestic animals died?" "Did someone have a nightmare?" "Has a sacrifice gone wrong?" "Does someone want to travel?"  Every question that does not apply is answered by the thila with  non-movement. They make the fingers of the united hands run quickly over the left thigh of the soothsayer (see ill. 74) after which the arm of the soothsayer, together with the arm of the client, goes up (see ill. 75), and immediately with a loud clapping noise falls down with the left hand of the soothsayer slapping his left thigh.  There the hands rest again until they have to answer the next question. When the soothsayer finally asks a correct question, the thila answers with a ÔyesÕ gesture. The united hands lift a little, then slowly lower to the ground (ill. 76) and quickly go up again. Then they fall back clapping the left thigh of the soothsayer. By always asking yes/no questions, the soothsayer can go into a long dialogue with the thila and thereby receive astonishingly much and precise information in a fairly short time span. If the soothsayer gets too many negative answers, i.e., if he cannot find the right questions that help him to find the reasons for the visit of his client, he can ask the thila the following questions which cannot be answered with ÔyesÕ or Ôno.Õ "What is it that I cannot find?" The thila will answer that question by making drawing-like movements in the air and on the ground with the united hands of the soothsayer and his client. These movements will reveal certain facts to the soothsayer. The soothsayer will then try to interpret these movements through yes/no answers. If that does not lead to success, he repeats the specific questions. If he does have success, he continues with questions that can be answered with yes or no. This way the soothsayer determines the motive of his client for coming to a consultation. He has to find this out in great detail. It is not enough to find out that someone had a bad dream. He also has to be able to say who in the family had it. That is the only way for the client to be sure that the soothsayer got in contact with that thil, who caused his trouble, and therefore can give the soothsayer the information what to do about it.  This also leaves the client with the option to decide whether he will trust the information that is now to be requested, i.e., whether he will accept the later diagnosis of the soothsayer and comply with his orders, or if he should go to another soothsayer. The client wants to make sure that the thil has been reached who is responsible for the present problem.  He does not want to sacrifice to a thil and then find out later that his problem still exists because the wishes of the right thil had not been fulfilled. The search for the motive therefore is a test which will give the client important information.

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When the soothsayer [determines] the motive, he can finally ask what caused the problem, why he caused, it and what has to be done to eliminate it.  He will always try first to ask yes/no questions to find out as much as possible and only when that leads to nothing, he will ask questions with more alternative than yes or no. Every reasonably important finding received will be checked by the soothsayer through rolling the cowry. He condenses the information into one sentence and then asks the thila to answer through the cowry wether or not he soothsaid correctly or whether other important information is missing. While speaking he takes two, three, four, or five hand and throws them before him on the ground. If one single cowry falls with the open-side facing up, the answer of the thila is Ôyes.Õ Any other position means Ôno.Õ Through these cowryÑanswers the soothsayer can be forced to ask more questions concerning the problem that he believed was already solved. When he finally has all the important information, he gives the word over to his client who until then was silent. He himself can now ask the thila yes/no questions to get more precise answers in those areas that especially interest him. The questions are always answered through the united hands of client and soothsayer. After approximately 800 to 1,000 questions have been asked within about one-half hour, all information has been found and confirmed several times. The soothsayer will sum up the results for his client and ask a few last questions from the thila to make sure. After to or three more throwings to check the result, the consultation is over. The soothsayer gathers up his instruments and leaves the room with his client, unless other customers are waiting in the "waiting room" (gbala). The client usually tells in no way whether or not he is satisfied with the consultation. He goes home and will follow the orders or prohibitions.

3.4. The Orders (bonoo) of the Thila
 The most important prohibitions that the thila give were named in the foregoing chapter.  But what are the so-called "orders" (bonoo) that the thila give their owners? Roughly, they can be divided into four categories: first, orders about the building or finishing of a shrine, secondly orders regarding sacrifices, thirdly orders that request a "buur" celebration, and fourthly orders which ask a certain action from the owner like asking him to become a soothsayer. We will talk about these orders without consideration to the frequency with which they appear in the consultation.

3.4.1. The Building and Finishing of Shrines 
 Through the example of the wathila we will illustrate how thila enter into the life of a man (they enter the life of a woman less frequently), how they request more shrines in the house, in front of the house entrance, and how they even have other wathila come, and as in the case of thildara, even order the taking of special thila. These orders though are relatively rare. In most cases the thila order that their shrines be completed with wood and clay figures (see chapter 6 and 7) and other objects. They justify these orders by saying that they need these "objects" (thii) as tools for their daily "work" (thorn). The integration of these objects into the shrine is usually accompanied by a small "sacrifice" (toopar). Finally the thila can order "regulations" (gbiserpara) of their shrines (see excursion to thildara in chapter 2.4) which often include the installation of new objects (statues, pots, etc.)

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3.4.2. The Sacrifice (toopar)
 The word "sacrifice" is not quite the same as the Lobi expression toopar. Toopar means "cowering down," or "to remain quite in one place." It rarely means the sacrificial killing of a bigger animal, but generally only a prayer which is said standing or cowering in front of the shrine and a stenographic drawing on the ground in front of the shrine which visualizes what was spoken. After the prayer, usually a young chicken, less frequently a hen, is taken and its carotid artery cut open. The bleeding animal is held over the shrine and then thrown on the ground. If it dies on its back, it is a sign that was ad been said was accepted and the "matter" (thimiir) that caused thil to order to be sacrifice through the soothsayer is considered over. If the animal dies on its stomach, the thil has rejected the sacrifice. To check this, a second and if necessary a third chicken is killed and if the result is the same the person has to go to the soothsayer again to find out why the required sacrifice was not accepted. The killing of chickens or hens therefore, is a kind of oracle, than what is usually understood as a sacrifice. A thil requests a sacrifice for two different reasons. Either he wants to have the breaking of a prohibition corrected or he wants to prevent the attack that witches and sorcerers are planning on its owner. These two reasons for a sacrifice are reflected in the above-mentioned drawings, which are done during the speaking in front of the altar (khien mele, to pull the pencil). Variation 1 (ill. 81) is "pulled" upwards and described a follows: "You take a mouth-hole, go up and tie on." The "mouth-hole" (no kar) is not physiological term, but the contents that the thil in question has in his "mouth.Ó The ÔcontentsÕ is the mistake, or you could say, the breach of a rule which was committed and which turned into a "matter" (thimiir) because the mistake became a "matter" in the mouth of the thil and turned into a "mouth-hole.Ó  If this matter is not resolved, it has to be "packed" (haali), i.e. taken away from the thil and "tied up" (lir) like tying something up with a knot and therefore neutralizes it. This way the breach of a norm is taken care of and it ensures that the thil will not cause any further accidents. Variation 2 (ill. 81) also serves to "tie up," a matter. Variation 3 is more specific: a thil asks for this drawing when there was an argument in the house of his owner, or as illustrated by the drawing, the "mouth" (no) of two people who have been separated are brought together again and united. The other drawings function against witches and sorcery. To understand their effect we first have to talk about these asocial and dangerous beings in a short excursion.

Excursions about Witches and Sorcery
The Lobi word duntundaar is not adequately translated with the term "witch," because Lobi witches, as generally all African witches, have little in common with the European witches of the middle ages.  The men as well as the women and children can be witches in  Lobi culture.  But a Lobi can only be a witch if God predestined him before his birth. Lobi witches have many different abilities. In dangerous situations some of them can disappear from the earth within seconds, others can fly or change into animals like elephants or monkeys and, this way cause damage to the fields of their neighbors. But the worst group of witches can "eat human flesh" (khuni tibil nun). These witches come into the houses in their area and steal the "souls" (thilu) of the sleepers, which are meat for the witches. They sell them at "witch markets" (duntunyaa), trade, or eat them.  The souls which do not originate from the witches own "matriclan"(tyaar) are traded or sold and may not be eaten. The person who's soul was stolen will feel sick already the next morning, and he will get ill very soon and

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finally die when his soul has been eaten (see Labouret 1931: 479-488). Since the possibilities to regain a soul after it has been stolen are very slim, the people try to defend against witches with the appropriate sacrifices and objects in order not to let the witches get to close to them. Finally, all witches have the ability to throw projectiles (dudube) on the people which cause sicknesses and which cannot be seen by non-witches. If too many of these projectiles enter a personÕs body (they can be stones, iron objects or even small living things), they cause pain in those parts of the body where they are. If this occurs, the person has to go to a specialist, a so-called bibur (see below) who will "bring out" (biir, beat) the objects which suddenly became visible before the astonished eyes of the sick person (see Labouret 1931:489-490). Sorcery is less dangerous than witchcraft. A person attacked by sorcery will be "thrown down" (gbangar). He gets sick or suffers unexplainable failures in various situations. But very rarely will his life be in danger. It is very popular to harass an enemy with these things. Generally, anybody can perform sorcery. The only condition is that the person either has "great thila" (thila kontena) with whose help he can cause harm for an enemy, or if a person has enough money, he can buy the service of a "thildaara,Ó i.e., the service of his "great thila.Ó A very common method of sorcery is called thiluri. An example is that a person takes an object from the shrine, which was asked for help through a sacrifice. This object is hidden either in the house of an opponent, or in his fields. As long as the object has not been found and no counter measures have been taken, the magic will work against him. Another method tries to "tie" (lir) an opponent magically to the "road" (buo) on which a person wants to see him thrown back. Some of these "roads" are: the "road of the field" (lo buo) which is the fieldwork; the "road of the woman" (kher buo) which is the search for a woman; on this road for example, a person tries to hinder any competition that might try to seduce the woman  that he himself wants to marry; the "road of the cattle" (na buo) which is the cattle breeding; the "road of trade" (yayab buo); the "road of work" (thorn buo), which is the paid job. This tying down is done by tying a string around an object on the shrine while speaking. A third method finally will confuse or mix up a situation for an opponent. This "mixing up" (nianianere) is also imitated with analogical ceremonies in front of the shrine. Let's go back to the sacrificial drawings (iii. 81). The "wavy lines" (gongolo, variations 4 and 7) visualize the art by which witches and sorcerers move, which is literally in crooked ways. In order to stop them they have to be attacked in "wavy lines.Ó This can be done through these sacrificial drawings. Iron posts, bracelets and amulets as well as pots ornamented with a wavy line, fulfill here anti-witch and anti-sorcery functions.  Drawings 5 and 6 are synonymous. With a horizontal line, a person "crosses" (banbari) the road on which witches are lurking. The road itself is indicated by the lines going from the top to bottom. With drawing 5 a person can also "turn away" (kpoori) the sacrificial promise that an opponent gave to his thil to cause trouble. With drawing 7 a person "ties" (lir) the attack of an opponent who wanted to tie him down and thereby neutralizes that action. Accordingly, variation 8 is used to "mix up" (nianiani) the "mix up" that an opponent had planned. Drawings 9 and 11 as well as variation 1 are more general in their meaning and therefore are mainly done in connection with sacrifices. A person "throws" (gbangar) with a counter-clockwise motion that person, who wanted "throw down" oneself and then ties up his bad "mouth" with a slipknot. It is somewhat misleading to call these sacrificial drawings. They are not meant to be drawings that are supposed to work once finished, but they rather are

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symbolic movements, or better, they visualize gestures which are performed in front of the shrine while the person talks. These gestures, which are always accompanied by the appropriate words, give the speaker the opportunity to express and experience the spoken word in a physically direct way. It is important in this connection to know that the thil who orders a certain drawing during a consultation also asks for a certain material with which the drawing has to be done. The thil can choose from at least 60 different "materials" (mele). The various qualities of the materials can have a relationship to the matter that the owner is dealing with. For example, the thil can ask for "ant dirt," that is dirt over which an ant trail had run "because the enemies of the owner of the thil are as many as ants." This way the act of drawing becomes a symbolic act in an even more complete and impressive way. We have talked about the sacrificial drawings in such detail because they are part of an arsenal with which Lobi go against [defend against] witches and sorcerers and to which many of the objects belong that will be discussed later.

 3.4.3. The Buur

(see Labouret, 1931: 461-465; Goody, 1972; Erbs, 1975: 17-30; Pere, 1979: 355-364).

3.4.4. The Pressure to Perform Certain Activities
Finally, wathila and in this case only wathila, can demand from their owners (if necessary force them with sanctions) to: become "soothsayers" (buor); become a "healer" (bibiir) and remove "witch projectiles" (dudube) from the bodies of sick people; hold "markets" (yaa) every fifth day in a certain place; organize a "battue" hunt; become a wood carver of wooden statues (bateba thel); become a "blacksmith" (phuberdaar) become a "brass founder" (phusiedaar)or become a "hunter" (babaal).
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The four activities first mentioned are with rare exceptions only performed on demand of a wathil. Because they cannot be performed successfully without the active assistance of a wathil, for example a soothsayer cannot see anything if his wathil does not answer his questions. A healer cannot remove any witch projectiles from his patient if the wathil does not activate the ointment that has to be rubbed on the patient before the removal of the projectiles. A market organizer won't have any law and order in his market, if his wathil did not first assure it with sanctions and prohibitions. A hunt organizer won't find enough game and cannot avoid accidents if his wathil does not help him. By not being willing to accept volunteers, the wathil behave as if they themselves have to choose with whom they want to work (even soothsayers who voluntarily become soothsayers after a buur, have held the buur on demand of the wathil). Many Lobi assure you that they would not want to do any of these time consuming and straining jobs voluntarily. Wood carvers, blacksmiths, brass founders, and hunters on the [contrary?], are not dependent for their work on the active cooperation of the wathila. Therefore they can do these jobs voluntarily. In spite of this fact, there exist still craftsman, who have been forced by their wathila to carve figures or to forge shrine objects. Why? Since on one hand these occupations bring very little money and prestige, voluntary sculptors and blacksmiths are rather rare among the Lobi. On the other hand, wathila regularly demand objects of iron or wood and they want to have their orders filled quickly. Therefore, they want to have enough craftsmen in their area that can execute their orders quickly. One will ask the question how thil or wathil can force a person to become a sculptor, who for example, does not have any talent for that kind of a work. The Lobi don't ask this question. Of course, they differentiate between good and bad sculptors: but according to them, it does not take any talent to carve "figures" (bateba). "Anybody can carve", they say, because statues don't have to be beautiful. They are meant for thila and they don't care at all whether the figures they ordered are good or bad, detailed or rough, beautiful or ugly. The determining factor is that they "resemble" (bure, what that means will be discussed later) "persons" (tibila). Since anybody can fulfill this condition if he is only willing, anybody can be forced to become a sculptor. Contrary to that, the thila practically never force their owners to build xylophones. Contrary to statues, xylophones have to meet such strict quality standards and therefore can only be built by people who have been given that special talent by God. Therefore, the Lobi argue, the thila cannot force people to carve xylophones.
  
 4. THE WOODEN SCULPTURES

 4.1. Different Categories of Wood Carvers (tethel)

"Wood carvers" are called tethel. Depending on whether they carve "tool shafts" (saar), "clubs" (gbokol) "mortars" (gbo), "pestles" (gbo sin), "stools" (deko), "cooking spades" (gpaar), "xylophones" (yolo) or "figures" (bateba), they are called dako thel (stool carver), yolo thel (xyolophone carver), bateba thel (figure carver), etc. As mentioned before, of all these carvers only the sculptor can be forced to carve (thili). The other specialists do their work voluntarily, either because they wish to earn a little more money, or less frequently, because they want to pass the time. We have to remember here that adult Lobi are always farmers first. The sculptors also live mainly on their own fieldwork. In the following, we want to concentrate on the sculptors and their work. First we want to discuss their most important carvings, the figures.

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4.2. The Position of the Figures (bateba) between Thila and Men

Before we introduce the various categories of figures, it is sensible to talk in a somewhat general way of how the Lobi conceive their status. For the Lobi, statues are neither art works nor simply wooden, metal, or clay objects, but living beings which can see, communicate with each other, move, and ward off witches and sorcery which is one of their jobs. One imagines that these figures fight with their own body. In order to really understand this conception, we will from now on use the Lobi term for figure which is bateba (singular and plural). We will avoid translation as much as possible, because our words 
like "statue," "sculpture,Ó and "figure" all imply objects, and life can only be attributed to them in the sense of what they communicate to us as an artwork.  Bateba become living and active beings at the moment that they are put on the shrine or otherwise surrendered to a thil. They then transform into mixed beings who combine human appearance with the superhuman qualities of the thila. On the four-step pyramid (see chapter 2.2), in which we earlier placed beings of the Lobi cosmos, the bateba would be on the second plateau together with bush-beings, between men and thila. The bateba can recognize and fight witches, contrary to men. They do this in areas which are inaccessible for men. Contrary to the thila, they possess a human like "body" (tumber), which is made from wood, clay, iron or brass but which they nevertheless can use like a human's.  For example, they fight against witches with their fists. Different from the thila, the bateba can also die. This happens when their bodies have deteriorated too much, or if they have been abandoned by those thil on whose shrine they are standing.  The Lobi also express this two-fold relationship of the bateba with the thila and men in their language. In certain cases, bateba are called "thila" or "thilabie" (small thila). But the Lobi qualify this by saying that bateba are not really thila, but are only called that because they possess certain thila like abilities. In other   situations the Lobi call their bateba "persons" (tibila), [or] more [accurately] a "person of the thil" (tibila thila) or more seldom, "children of the thila (thil bi). The Lobi call them "children" (bi) because just like children help their fathers with their "work" (thorn), so the bateba help their thila, and just as children "belong" (bine) to their fathers, so the bateba belong to their thila.  

Excursion to the Question of Whether the Lobi have Ancestral Statues 

Can bateba also be termed ancestral figures, as has been done for quite a while over and over again in the art-ethnological literature? To answer this question, the following points have to be recognized:
 

• In the area of Wourbira, the "deceased" (kingiedoara) are called "ancestors"  (kotena thier, "Great beneath"). I have never heard there, that bateba have been brought into connection with these two terms. Therefore, there are no ancestral figures in Wourbira.  
• According to Tito Spini and Giovanna Antongini (1980), in the area of Kainpti (see   map 1 and 2), wooden figures are often personified as "returned people." These are people who died one or two generations back and who want to return into the house of their surviving family. The cultural and linguistic differences between the area of   Wourbira and Kampti are so great, that it can be assumed that these two regions have   different understanding of the character of the bateba. Among the Dagari-Wile of   Birifu (see map 1) wooden and clay figures are also supposed to represent recently   deceased people according to Jack Goody (1962: 224 and 1972:17) and Roy Sieber   (1981).  
• Wooden figures are also identified with other beings among the Lobi and their neighbors.

Hans Himmelheber for example writes (1966:70) that two bateba that he bought in the Lobi village of

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Lantio (northern Ivory Coast), were called konde, i.e. bush-beings. (Bush-beings are called kontuorsi as well as kontey in the area of Wourbira.) Reports by Henri Labouret (1931:40) are similar. He writes that in the house of a Birifor man in Doumbou (village in Upper Volta), bush-beings had to be personified by clay statues "des dieux Konnton".  Finally, Goody (1972: 19, 1979) and Sieber (1980) inform us that certain wooden and clay figures were identified with bush-beings among the Dagari-Wili in Birifu. But bateba seem to be also identified with completely different beings. The sculptor who carved the two figures (catalog no. 44) bought by Himmelheber, told him the following: "These figures which you see here are neither konde nor sitone, because those beings have not yet appeared to me." This remark indicates that in one and the same village, bateba can associated with different categories of beings. What then is the answer to our question? In no case can Lobi figures simply be called ancestral statues, because they are associated by the Lobi with various categories of beings. If they are identified with the recently deceased, they do not represent ancestors in the ethnological linguistic use of the word. Ancestors are only those deceased who died several generations ago (see Himnielheber 1965:8) As to what then can the bateba refer to, not only in the area of Wourbira? As far as the information so far available is concerned, Lobi statues seem to be identified everywhere with beings that stand between men and thila in the cosmos. Persons of the thila, the deceased, the returned ones, as well as bush-beings have human-like bodies and are like them in other important areas. But they do differ from men by temporary invisibility (Lobi can see deceased sometimes, but not always) and superhuman abilities. Therefore, everywhere bateba resemble men and are at the same time more than they. Let's go back to the bateba in the area of Wourbira.  The fact that bateba resemble people only to a certain degree can be seen by the often astonishing resemblance between male bateba (bateba kuun, "bateba man") and female bateba (bateba kher "bateba womanÓ). They can be so alike that sculptors who were asked the question whether the bateba they carved were male or female, could only answer the question after they took the bateba in their hands and inspected the genitals which are always very small.  Because of this minimal generic differentiation, male and female bateba for example have the same powers and abilities in their fight against witches. Bateba never marry and pairs only represent twins and never a married couple. But the fact that the "breasts" (ila, word used as well for male as for female breasts) are so alike on bateba of different sex has its origin in the fact that sculptors are reluctant to carve full, round breasts on their female bateba; it is extremely difficult to work with the hard and termite resistant wood that is used.  One Lobi sculptor remarked the following: "As long as the thila do not object to it, we would rather carve the flat breasts of an old woman than the round ones of a young girl (Onuoore Kambou, Pilings, February 1980). These flat breasts though are hardly different from the triangular breast flaps with which the carvers imitate the strong breast muscles of the Lobi farmers.  The bateba share with the people various hairstyles and tattoos which until only a few years ago, were worn as adornments (see Labouret, 1931:186-187 and 180-181).  First we will discuss the most important hairstyles that one can find among the bateba. Until today the older Lobi liked to have their "heads" (yuo) shaved bald. Younger people on the other hand preferred to "cut" (kut) their hair helm-like, whereby the skull-cap could have different sizes (see ill. 28 and Labouret 1931:Pl.X:1, 3, P1. XXVII:7  and P1. XXX:6). Both hairstyles are often found among the bateba (see catalog no. 34 and 3). There were also more complicated styles, like shaving an eclipse which gave a kpajul hairstyle (see catalog no. 113 and 1 and Labouret, 1931: Pl.XII:1, 2). Sometimes the head was "divided" (bele) by shaving off broad stripes lengthwise out of the hair.  One could also "braid" (lin) the hair over the whole head in five parallel rows (see catalog no. 17 and Labouret, 193l:Pl. XII:2) or braid the hair along a comb made from vegetable fibers or leather

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which would result in phisa hairstyle (see catalog no. 6). Or one could let the braids run away from the comb in a round arc downwards, which was called a yu-pia (see catalog no. 12). Into the combs on both sides, one could put the white feathers of a "kalao bird" (siliwe). (Labouret does not show any phisa or yu-pia hairstyles, but shows dancers with white feathers in their hair, 1931: P1. XXIV 1,3, P1. XXIII: 1,5: see also Labouret, 1931: 187.) Like the phisa styles, the black dyed hairpieces made of vegetable fibers were reserved for the men (see catalog no. 24 and Labouret: 1931: 187 and Pl.XIII: 8). According to Labouret, the old men among the [G]an and Dorosye could carry their hair in "braided tuft" on the otherwise bald head (1931: 187, translation of the writer). Some of the bateba in this catalog possibly show this hairstyle (see catalog no. 26). Finally, as a headgear, the Lobi liked to carry calabashes which had been cut apart (gburkur) (see ill. 33 and Labouret, 1931: PL. VI: 3-8). One can find these as well as European hats which substituted the calabashes in recent years (see catalog no. 45 and 180). Very often bateba also show tattoos in the face and the stomach area. In certain cases, these tattoos can give some indication as to which ethnic group the client belonged who ordered the bateba. This way, bateba who have slashes on each cheek going from the corners of the mouth to the ears, could have been used by the Dian, Dorosye or Gan (see Labouret 1931: 181), while bateba with three short fan shaped strokes running from the eyes over the temples, in all probability were made for the Lobi, Birfor or Tegesye. The ray-like tattoo around the navel though does not give any indication about the origin of the work, since according to Labouret these can be found in all six ethnic groups. Being