Tyi Wara :: Essays Papers

Tyi WaraThe largest country in West Africa is Mali. Mali isbordered by seven other states. Mali is somewhat determine likea butterfly, except that the left wing is much smaller thenthe right wing. The largest region of the country is thenorthwestern region. This region extends into the Sahara,and is almost merely arid desert. The central region ofthe country is known as Sahel. Life in this region goes bythe Niger Rivers annual flood cycle. It has the highestamount of peeing between August and November. TheSouthwestern region of the country is more than lush than therest of the country. This is because rainfall, and riversare more plentiful here. As you can tell, Malis unity mostimportant geographic feature is defiantly the Niger River.This river goes through Sahel and the southeastern region ofthe country. Both the Niger River and the Nile River are amajor source of transportation for this country. Malis population consists of a number of differentpeoples. They are the Bambara, t he Songhai, Mandinka,Senoufo, Fula, and Dogon. The majority of Malis people areMuslim. The official language of Mali is French. I will center in on one group of people, these are theBambara. The Bambara people are a large ethnic group of 4million. They are located throughout Mali, as well as in thenorthern areas of Cote Dlvoire, Guinea, Senegal and TheGambia. They are among the most powerful and influentialethnic groups in Mali. Most of the Bambara are farmers.Their main pasture is millet. Both men and women share thefarming duties. Their best known and most highly developedart form is the dance headdress. Which is in the form of anantelope. The antelope is more of an abstract design, thatis sometimes in combination with human and other animalfigures. These are used especially at agricultural rites.They are designed to actuate the people on to produce plentifulcrops. It is also to invoke the help of the spirits, byreenacting mythological scenes of the birth of agriculture.The ante lope was supposed to have played a significant rolein this. Two men, one wearing a male antelope headdress, theother wearing a female antelope headdress danced on thecommunal field. opus they were doing this other young menhoed all day to mark the opening of the planting season. Theappearance of the masked figures was a scared rite to honorthe fab wild creature who brought the knowledge ofhoeing to mankind. The dancers were covered in long blackfibers, and bent over on sticks. They imitated thecultivator, or pawed the ground like mating antelopes.