It is a time when the rainy season is about to come to an end in central SenufoLand, September, to be more accurate.  By this time, the youths have already spent about three months undergoing their seven-year-long initiation into Poro.

Poro is a secret men's society, known as a strong measure of unity in the form of the transtribal male cult.  Cult members have responsibilities in the political, religious, and educational lives of the people (Tribal n.p.).

The Poro prepares men for leadership in the community, so they might attain wisdom, accept responsibility, and gain power.  It begins with the child's grade of “discovery”, followed by extensive training and service (Prayer n.p.).   During the seven-year initiation period, the young men converse with each other using a secret language and passwords, known only to other Poro members.  To an outsider, it would sound like babble, but the member always knows and understands what is being said.  This is part of the mystery of this secret society.

At the beginning, young men aged 20 are called into the society and are trained by the group above them, along with a few elders.  There is much work to be done during the initiation process.  Dancing the masks is part of this work, but not the most important part.  Only through work does the dance of the mask become meaningful (Forster n.p.).

The word “Fali”, in the Senari language, refers to all work connected to the hard labor involved with tilling soil and preparing mounds of earth for new yam fields.  Whoever proves himself in this stage of initiation is respected and given a high reputation for the rest of his life.  Although this work is not actually part of Poro, it is done to prepare the young men for initiation into Poro.  Those who win the hoeing contest enjoy the privilege of wearing a special headdress with two large white feathers in it, and are regarded as great cultivators.

While the verb “Fali” means to cultivate and plan (or to work the soil), the noun fali or “work” means strenuous physical effort and fatigue or even exhaustion.   Hard physical labor is characteristic of work in the Poro society (Forster n.p.).   By putting forth so much work and physical effort, preservation of material and cultural society is secured.  Work is connected to the exhaustion of labor on behalf of the society.  Due to this hard exhausting labor, young men see the kind of toil that is meant by “work for Poro”, and once one understands the content of initiation and the work that is involved, it is easier to comprehend why the Senufo peoples associate Poro Society masks with toil, hard labor, and exhaustion.

We also see the Poro working for the society as a whole when they collect items such as shells, food, coins, etc. from the young men and re-distribute it among the community.  This is done to keep everyone equal, so that no family has any power over another.

It is rather difficult to put the feelings and traditions of Poro Society in words because much of it is still regarded as “secret” and only the people in the society know the special language, art, and rituals, etc.

The young men do, however, perform rituals at funerals, which can last up to five days.  This is one function of the mask.  The mask for this occasion is made of fabric, raffia, fibers, feathers, and similar materials (Senufo n.p.).

After a variety of preparations and offerings have been made, all but the closest relatives of the deceased Poro member are required to leave.  When the streets have become empty, the Poro Society’s most important mask – A Zoomorphic Helmet Mask (Fig. 1) – approaches.  This masked figure is the center of Poro rituals, as well as the center of the secret society as an institution.  The word "kporo" designates not only this masked figure, which is at the center of Poro rituals, but also the secret society as an institution.  For the Senufo, the mask itself is Poro, although one can with equal correctness say that Poro is the long procession of old and young members to the house of the deceased, or even that it is the work carried out by the colobele (Forster n.p.).

However, the essence of Poro crystallizes in the masked figure. When older members explain its dance to their “young brothers”, they speak of work and why its performance is the work of Poro.

Before we study a few samples of Poro masks, it is important to note the following things at this time:

• There are different Poro societies in Africa, just as there are different groups of Veteran’s of Foreign Wars (VFW’s) in the States.

• Each group has their own style of mask, which can be identified by the people of each group only.  Outsiders do not know which Poro masks belong to which group.

•  Many men are not known by outsiders to be of the Poro until the ritual is actually performed at their own funeral, where it is then pronounced.

Although Dan and Ngere represent different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, they are connected by the men’s secret society called Poro.  Pictured above (Figure #2) is a Dan style mask with an idealized realism of the human face along with animalistic characteristics.

From the same group as Figure #2, this mask is used as the channel of communication with the High God Zlan.  The intermediaries between the God and the People are spirits of the ancestors invoked through this mask.  This also shows both animalistic and humanistic characters.

 

 

 

A Review of the Similarities and Differences in the Masks of Poro
 

Similarities

 It is not difficult to see the many similarities in the masks worn by Poro Societies in the Cote d’Ivoire area of the west cost of Africa.
 

• All have characteristics of realism shown in the human face.  The human face carved into these masks all have round eyes, except for the mask shown in Fig. #4, which is a female mask and that may explain the difference.  These masks also have elongated, oval faces and high, dome like foreheads.  Notice the use of line in the masks.  The use of curved lines help show many things, such as the shape of the eyes, the rounded forehead, and fullness of the lips.  Straight lines reflect the shape of the noses, the decorative aspects around the face, and in some cases, the raffia for the hair.   The creators of these masks have also used a combination of dark, light, and shadow to show depth and texture in most of these masks, which makes makes the masks three-dimensional works of art.

• Another similar trait is the artist's use of a combination of both human and animalistic features.  Among the animalistic parts are horns, tusks, and animal skins.  One should also notice that the animal and human features have definite separation and are not blended together.  Instead there is a nice balance of each element.

• Wood is the common base for each one of these masks.  The creator then added more items to elaborate, such as shells, pigments, textiles, metal, animal hair, and horns.  However, the masks were all started with a block of wood, which was carved using three basic tools and several hours of labor.

• The most obvious is that the mask in Fig. #6 appears to look extremely different.  It is not decorated, nor does it have elaborate features.  The only properties it actually has in common with the other five masks is that the foundation is made of wood and the eyes are round.  It does not have any animalistic properties and has much less forehead than the others.  The reason for this discrepancy is not apparent at this time.

• The shape of the mouths is another area where these masks differ.  The mouths in Figures #3 and #6 have no real mouth, while the mask depicted in Figure #5 has teeth and almost looks to be smiling or grimacing.  The others all have rather large mouths, with soft and sensitive lips.

• Another major difference is the actual role of each mask.  Their purposes range from dancing at funerals, to communicating with High Gods, and although each mask has its place and purpose, the masks shown here are all worn by males.

• It is also worth noting that the mask in Figure #4 is the only mask with a women's face, which bring us to our next area of study, which is Female Masks of Africa.