SENUFO PEOPLE

Bird Hornbill

SENUFO PEOPLE

Bird Hornbill

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The hornbill bird represents a emblem of the authority and wisdom of the elderly in Senufo communities, the hornbill figures are kept in the forests close to where the young people are initiated, to protect them from malicious forces. They are also taken by the initiates' heads during the pore ceremonies (male secret society - think of a kind of African Freemasonry - whose influence is very strong in countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea. Their origin is associated with the culture of the Mandé peoples, who arrived in West Africa more than a thousand years ago.)

It is made of carved wood, metal and vegetable fiber.

Length : 1.15 m

Height : 2.4 m

Width : 1.15 m

Weight : more than 90 kg

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