Senufo Women - Ivory Coast

Deepest, ancient Africa is still to be seen everywhere.
Though external influences are greater each day, tradition always remains, behind any sign of modernity. 
The people continue to attend their own religious and cultural events, such as this one, the Yonglar. These young girls brushing past the knife blades without moving a single muscle, are given by their families to be trained in this dangerous discipline. 
They believe they are possessed by a spirit which protects them and makes them brave enough to perform these displays. 
Each group of Yonglars moves from village to village, putting on performances. When the girls are 7 or 8, they leave the group and return home with the money they have earned. 

To the north of the Mande country lies the land of the Senufo, one of the ethnic groups of Africa that has best preserved its own culture. 
Agriculture is their main activity, though they also have cattle, above all goats and cows. 
Rice forms an important part of their diet. In these mortars, they separate the grain from the husk. It will then be stored in the granaries, along with the millet and maize. 

Senufo villages tend to be large compared to those of other groups in the Ivory Coast. They are made up of groupings of different clans and lineages, which form what we would call districts. In each one of them there is a fetish house, where they keep their masks and religious carvings. 
The decoration of the façade shows certain precepts and deities of the Poro, the fundamental law of the Senufo. Each fetish house is governed by a guardian, who is normally an important dignitary of the clan’s secret society. 

Women are very important in Senufo society.
Their power is comparable to that of the men, though less evident. The system of transmission of culture and tradition is matrilineal, which makes the woman the head of the lineage. Even in the Poro, women occupy an extremely important place. For example, they play a vital part in the founding of a new Sinzanga, or Poro school, the head of which will be chosen by matrilineal line. 
In everyday life, the woman are in charge of the domestic chores and looking after the children, to whom they dedicate very special attention and affection. The tribal law dictates this state of affairs, above all up to the time they reach puberty. 

Dogs are also very important for the Senufo, especially hunting dogs, like these, on which they place a liana collar, to protect them from possible attacks by vermin in the forest. On important occasions, as a substitute for the human sacrifices of the past, dogs’ throats are cut, and they are offered to the Poro deities in the fetish houses. 
Every year, they must add a new layer of straw to these houses – the fetishes must be well protected. 
This is the main square of the village, where we will find the house of the judges and the house of death, where dead bodies are taken for funeral rites to be performed. 
Between the fetish house and the house of judges stand the stones of truth. Here, prisoners sit in order to be publicly interrogated and sentenced.