Farming masquerades of the Bassari

Introduction

The Bassari or Oniyan people live on the northern edge of the Futa Jallon highlands in Senegal, Guinea and Mali. They are part of a larger ethnic group known as the Tenda. Other Tenda ethnicities include the Konyagui, the Bedik, and the Badiaranke. Most Bassari villages are located on the Senegal-Guinea border, specifically around Kédoukou in Senegal and Koundara in Guinea. However, a clear majority of them are based on the Senegal side of the border. This part of the continent, which is close to the headwaters of the Gambia River, is typically very green. More recently, climate change has made dry woodland features to linger longer than usual after the rains have gone and this is not a good thing for a community who have lost most of their lands to government-declared protected areas (Dindefelo Natural Community Reserve, etc.).  

Historical records suggest that the Bassari migrated to their current location from the Futa Jallon region in Guinea several centuries ago. Others say that they started their journey from the Gulf of Guinea and continued to their present location. There is also speculation that their migration dates back to the founding of the Ghana Empire. According to this version, when Soumaoro Kanté lost his epic battle with Sundiata Keita, the Bassaris joined General Koli Tenguela who, after the battle, decided to create his own hegemony in Fouta Toro. On their march there, Bassari legion broke away and settled on their present site.

However, recent history suggests that a more plausible version of the Bssari story is that they fled northwards from Guinea when the Fula who inhabit most of the Futa Jallon lowlands started their Islamisation or Jihad campaigns. The Bassari who wanted to protect themselves by staying together rather than melting into the majority Fula group fled into the mountains where that potent weapon of the Fula - the horse - could not go after them.

‍

Bassari society

While the Bassari have adapted to their new surroundings, they have managed to preserve many aspects of their traditional way of life. They are a matrilineal society, known for its unique culture and many rituals around farming activities. Bassaris believe that the world around us is full of both benevolent and malevolent spirits known as Biyil. These spirits inhabit the trees, streams and environment around us. Syabutyara is the god who watches over nature and the good spirits that protect human beings. He is aided in this process by the Chameleon Father. All the time, however, there are evil Biyil always trying to hurt human beings or destroy their crops. Many elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices have to be performed to ward them off. This fight between good and evil is explains the existence of some of the most important masks in Bassari society.

The Bassari are skilled farmers and are known for their terraced fields, where they grow crops such as millet, maize, and groundnuts. They also produce different types of Fonio, Bambara groundnuts, cotton (a cash crop), leafy greens, okra and much more.

The society is highly stratified and this is important because work is distributed according to age grades. Different age grades handle different tasks and one has to pay their dues in order to be takne care of later in life. That is how the community gets to reproduce itself. The Bassari take care of their community leaders and elderly people by doing a number of rotating and obligatory services.

Women’s age groups

1. Od-olug: 8 to 14 year olds;
2. Od-opalug: 15 to 21 year olds;
3. Od-odyar: 22 to 28 year olds
4. Od-ebatya: 29 to 35 year olds
5. Od-ezebekebatya: 36 to 42 year olds;
6. Od-okowored: 43 to 49 year olds;
7. Od-oken: 50 to 56 year olds;
8. Od-epeka: 57 to 63 year olds;
9. Od-ekebatia: 64 to 70 year olds;
10. Bexarenge: 71+

Men’s age groups

1. Olug: 16 to 22 year olds;
2. Opalug: 23 to 29 year olds;
3. Odyar: 30 to 36 yearl olds;
4. Ekwotak: 37 to 43 year olds;
5. Opidor: 44 to 50 year olds;
6. Batangala: 51 to 57 year olds;
7. Ikote olambe: 58 to 64 year olds;
8. Bexarenge: 65+

The Odyar and lug generations do most of the heavy lifting because they are in their prime. They take care of most farming activities.

‍

Farming and rituals

The agrarian calendar plays an important role in Bassari society. Some activities happen the same way every year:

January – March: the farms are cleared and the dry grass is laid out evenly across the fields

April: the grass is burnt to fertilise the fields and clear any remaining grass

May: the millet is sown

June: groundnut, corn, cotton and rice crop is sown.

September to November: harvesting and preparation of grain for storage.

Over the rainy season, many masks will appear to ensure that the villagers work hard and that the gods bless their efforts with a bountiful harvest. The masks themselves are made from materials such as wood, leather, and animal horns, and are adorned with intricate carvings and colorful decorations that represent various aspects of nature and the spiritual world. Each mask has its own unique design and symbolism, with some representing fertility and abundance, while others symbolise protection and strength. The wearing of these masks is believed to bring harmony and balance to the community and ensure a bountiful harvest for the coming year.

The village chief would typically kick off the season by performing the rites that wake the masks that shepherd the community through a successful season.

The Oyangan rite is performed every six years. Six years is important here because it officially marks the transition of an age grade into an older generation. During the Oyangan, the chief offers sacrifices of millet beer, rice and leafy greens to pray for a good harvest.

Next comes the Wobeta Oboedyine to ask for rain. It is performed in June.

Gwanguran masquerades are the first to appear. They gather the young people and they perform elaborate dances to ask the gods to send rain. Lukuta masks lead the dance and the Gwanguran follow behind. The Lukuta also offer secrifices under a Shea tree to ward off the spirits of wild insects, locusts and birds that are known for destroying or eating crops in the fields.

Finally, the Wobeta Onwolwol rite is performed in July to symbolise the need to protect seeds at all costs. Young people climb up to the highest point in the village and stay there for about an hour. Then they come running into the village, led by Lukuta and Gwanguran masquerades. Lukuta is the mythical grandmother of the Bassari. The Gwanguran and Lukuta masquerades try to steal the millet seeds while old women try to steal Fonio seeds. Throughout this reenactment, they would constantly trip and fall, as if Biyils or spirits are preventing them from escaping with the village’s seeds. The young people overpower them and then burn the seeds. The symbolic burning of the seeds is to show that the village has warded off any bad luck that could result from someone taking their seeds and placing a curse on them.

Following this ceremony, the fields are ploughed and the rice, millet and fonio is sown. Throughout this process, the Gwanguran monitor the farming process to make sure that everybody is working hard. They cheer on hard workers and rebuke those who show any sign of laziness. The village does not tolerate slouches. Everybody has to give their best shot.

The harvest season occurs between August and November. The millet, corn, groundnuts and fonio is harvested between August and September, followed by cotton, rice and groundnuts between late September and October. Crops like cassava, okra, beans, Bambara groundnuts and a variety of leafy greens are grown throughout the year

In late July, Odener masks take over and supervise the ploughing of the fields and sowing of the groundnut. Covered in Shea leaves, they run around the farm and provide encouragement or rebuke, just like the Gwanguran did earlier in the season.

Some of the farm work in the rice fields is almost like a ritual dance. You lug spread in a line across the field and as the changing goes up, the hoes rise and fall as they work their way to the finish line. The masquerade and competition among the workers helps to get the work done quickly.

‍

Conclusion

The location of Bassari villages has certainly helped many of these traditions to survive. Through their culture and social organisation, we can still see how communities pooled labour to grow enough food to feed everybody.

The Bassari love their culture and it is largely thanks to them that we still have the Dindefelo forest, an area that has now effectively been taken away from them by the Senegalese government. This tends to happen a lot in Africa where customary lands are fenced off by national governments in the national interest. Local communities have very little say in this process. This is ironic because forests and protected areas have existed for so long because local communities took care of them. Climate change is threatening to take even more farming capability away from them. The rainy seasons are becoming noticeably shorter.

Artisanal mining has also recently started around Bassari villages. Miners come from all over the subregion to seek their fortune. Young girls, some of them as young as twelve and thirteen, are also being abducted from Nigeria and forced to work as sex slaves around the mines.

The Senegalese government and international partners need to do more to protect the Bassari and their way of life. Within the crisis of capitalism, it is clear that they have many lessons to teach us, notably how to live a life of frugal abundance.

‍

‍

Further reading:

Catherine & Olivier Barrière: Bassari; de l’ocre à la Lumière

Vincent Dehoux & Monique Gessain: La Musique Sassari ; Un Parcours Obligé

Ibrahima Thiam & Roland Ngam: The Bassari of Senegal

Yamada Shigechika: Masks in Bassari Society; Ethnographical Research on masks and discourse around them

‍