A ''boli'' (plural: ''boliw'') is a
fetish of the
Bambara or
Malinké
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic g ...
of
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
.
Uses and customs
The ''boli'' can be
zoomorphic
The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...
(mostly a buffalo or a zebu) or even sometimes
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
. The populations of Mali who practice the so-called ''bamanaya'' cult, that is to say who indulge in the sacrifices of animals on the ''boliw'' and who communicate with the afterlife through masked dancers say they are Bamana.
In the
Mandingo religions a ''boli'' is an object said "charged", that is to say that by its magic it is able to accomplish extraordinary things, such as to give death, to guess the future, to take possession of someone, etc. The boli, which can also be made up of human or animal placenta, clay, tissue, skin, etc., is itself the symbol of the placenta.
It is considered a living being and contains within it a core that can be either a stone, a metal or any other material. This nucleus or "grain" symbolizes the vital energy. The more blood the ''boli'' will receive, the more it will be "charged" with ''nyama'' (vital force).
[Youssouf Cissé, ''La confrérie des chasseurs Malinké et Bambara: mythes, rites et récits initiatiques'', Editions Nouvelles du Sud, 1994]
References
Bibliography
* Graham Harvey, ''The Handbook of Contemporary Animism'', 2014, p.233.
African art
Magic (supernatural)
Religious objects
Traditional African medicine
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