through the spirits of the ancestors, the bush and also the spirits associated with Poro and Sande called the ngafa. These were spirits brought into existence by Ngewo at the outset of creation (Little, 1967: 216–26) and as the ngafa of the Sande and Poro were brought into existence at the outset of time, so too were the Sande and Poro people. Although it is not possible to historically date the foundation of the Sande and Poro societies, female and male initiation societies in Sierra Leone are mentioned as early as the fifteenth century (Grillo, 2018: 106). What the Mende say about Sande is that “they have had a Sande for a long, long time” (Grillo, 2018) or “it has always been there” (MacCormack, 1979: 27).
Gender in Sande and Poro Masks
The Sande and Poro spirits, the ngafa are represented as being in the bush, the site of power and healing, but also of chaos and threat. The bush is nature untamed and therefore threatening, just as in Christian mythology where “untamed nature” is the site of both beauty and threat; it is the boundary between the wilderness and civilization, as seen in the narrative of the protagonist Jesus when he was taken into the desert and tested. The power and medicines of this other place are strong, and access and control are through spirits of the Sande and Poro. These spirits are represented by their associated masks, while the masks are, beyond representing the spirits, receptacles of the power of the spirits, much like icons are receptacles of the saints’ powers in Greek Orthodox Christianity (Danforth, 1989).
Representing the Sande spirits is a wooden helmet mask called the Sowei. Sande and Poro masks, like the societies are gendered (Phillips, 1995). The female sowei masks are worn by heads of Sande chapters, while during the period of initiation Sande chapters in towns come together and chose supreme Sande soweisia known as the Sande Wa jowei or the ndoli jowei, the dancing jowei, who is seen three times in public at three significant parts of the Sande rite of passage. The ndoli jowei is assisted by nyande jowei (the beautiful Sowei) and the ndogbo jowei (the bush Sowei). They dance at the yaya, which occurs after the initiates have been circumcised, while the second time occurs about halfway through and presents the young girls as initiates and potential women of the bush school. The young women are covered in white clay dust from their heads to their feet, while around their waists and neck are strings of beads, cowrie shells, bells, and animal horn and/or teeth. The final dance of the ndoli jowei occurs at the end of the initiation when newly minted adult females are “pulled out” of the bush and sit in state for three days to receive recognition and gifts from the community (Phillips, 1995; Phillips, 1978: 267–70). According to Ruth Phillips, the ndoli jowei is a “tutelary spirit” of the Sande society, a spirit typically seen during initiation only, although she may well come out to bring justice if there is an infraction of Sande laws, and when an important Sande member dies (1978: 272).
Other lesser Sande spirits represented by masks are gonde, a clown‐like character described as ngengema jowei (the funny sowei), and the satirical samawa. These spirits are on periphery, as they represent the inverse of Mende polite speech and action. Like other clowning figures, gonde turns the world upside down in order to reaffirm the rightness of order found in the world right side‐up. As Phillips wrote, through her absurdity, gonde serves to reinforce the dignity of the transcendent power of nodoli jowei. In her graphic representation of the ills which befall offenders against Sande, samawa demonstrates the helplessness of men before the power of sande. (Phillips, 1978: 275).
As to the Poro society, there are multiple male masks representing multiple Poro spirits. There is De nu ge who alerts people as to the coming of Gbeni, and Gbeni, the devil who, leading the boys to the bush school and their induction into Poro, is said to swallow them. There is Ka ge, whose function it is to teach local customs, history, and tradition to the boys undergoing initiation, while the mask of De nu ge also alerts the people as to the coming of Gbe ge, the punisher of adulterers (Arewa and Hale, 1975: 86). Lesser Poro spirits who assist with initiation are Ngafagoti, the Gobai and the Yawei, while always present are the masks of Poro ancestors (Little, 1965: 359). Ojo Arewa and Everett Hale, following G.W. Harley, wrote that:
In general terms the spirits and their accompanying masks fall into three categories. First and most important is the great oracle, the “god spirit”, or, as it is sometimes called, “the devil”, Gbeni. The second category of spirits and masks are those that function as public officials. The final group is the lowest in terms of power and function; in this group the spirits and their associated masks serve as messengers, entertainers, dancers, and clowns.”
(1975: 84)
As with the Sande ndoli jowei, Gbeni will visit three times over the period of initiation in to the Poro. The first time is when new initiates are taken into the Poro, the second a week later where rice is collected, and a final time when the initiates are “pulled out” of the bush. The last time the spirit danced, it resisted giving up the boys, but by hitting the spirit’s belly, he finally gives birth to each new gendered adult male. Much dancing and joy ensues where all join in.
The spirits of the Sande and Poro, represented by the masks, signal the metaphysical power of the societies, which supports their social and political power. A clear statement of this power is expressed in and through the masks associated with the spirits and their respective societies. The masks, however, are not simply representations of the spirits of the Sande and Poro, spirits linked to the very powerful “bush” from which they come; they are also imbued, like all creation, with the power of Ngewo. This power infused the wearer so that they embodied the spirits, making that power available to the Sande and Poro societies and their adherents and initiates (Phillips, 1978: 268). Without the Sande or Poro societies and their capacity to control and use the power of the bush, one was vulnerable to all forms of unseen power – both human and spirit. Entrance into the Sande and Poro required first circumcision, and then once the way was opened (Ferme, 2011: 179), the youth were ready to learn the important social, economic, political, ontological, and metaphysical truths of the Sande and Poro.
Concluding Comments
In the world of the Mende of Sierra Leone, power moves through all creation, and that power is available to humans, but accessing it requires initiation into the Sande or Poro. To enter into either society required the first test of endurance, which then opened the way for proper gender knowledge acquisition. Without circumcision, the bush school was closed and without the bush school the power and protection of the spirits of the bush and the societies were cut off from them. Circumcision allowed one to access the proper gendered knowledge, which then allowed one to succeed in Mende society. Circumcision created and then separated these kinds into female and male creating, maintaining, and affirming Mende gender ideology.
The stakes are high when it comes to systems of belief and practice. In the modern world, governments, all of them, are shaped in and by the dominant system(s) of belief and practice either working alongside, ignoring, and/or suppressing them. Systems of belief and practices shape the parameters of existence and all within it. They shape our past and of course shape the conceptualization of the future. Ritual and myth are media by which we define ourselves and the world, and in so doing bear upon all aspects of our existence. Female and male circumcision practiced by the Mende is given credence and rationality via ritual and myth. Proper gender adults are made in accordance with Mende gender ideology wherein a ritual cut, the removal of the clitoris and the foreskin, was/is necessitated in order to remove the bisexual bit. Although the Mende themselves have not stated this, I suggest that the clitoris might be taken to be masculine, the foreskin taken to be feminine, in order to produce a properly gendered adult, who with the proper gendered knowledge – social, ontological, and metaphysical – will succeed in life. Pulled into the bush, children are circumcised and in this rite opened to their proper gender in order to be schooled. Once their gendered education is complete, they are pulled out of the bush and are ready to take
