Sande

The Sande secret society of the Mande-speaking peoples is an important example, because its religious vision and political power extend across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea. The Sande initiate girls by teaching them domestic skills and sexual etiquette, as well as the religious significance…

…black helmet-shaped masks representing the Sande society, which is responsible for educating girls and initiating them into womanhood. This is one of the few women’s societies on the continent known to use masks. The blackened wooden mask, which represents a water spirit, also signifies the transformation of young girls into…

The Sande mask worn on the head of the chief dancer during the ceremony that welcomes the reappearance of female initiates from their period of seclusion is perhaps the best-known carved figure in Sierra Leonean art. It is a black symmetrically stylized head of an African…

The poro and the sande are, respectively, male and female secret societies that meet in sacred groves in the forest. The poro, the more important of the organizations, is personified by the Great Masked Figure, or Grand Master, a person who only appears in public disguised by a mask,…

…women’s secret society is the sande.

…societies known as poro and sande—for men and women, respectively. The modern Vai are largely Islāmized. Formerly known as slave traders, the Vai now rely on farming and fishing; many work in government or for foreign companies. Their crafts are well developed, especially weaving and goldsmithing. A unique syllabic system…