The Djimini (also spelt Dyimini) people of Côte d’Ivoire belong to the larger

Senoufo The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, and Syénambélé, are a West African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali and the wes ...

group. They have a population of about 100,000 and live in the north-eastern area of Côte d’Ivoire, in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

and

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. Mal ...

. The Djimini pass on their stories and traditions to their children. Men are considered to have reached adulthood by the age of thirty and are then taught about what being a man means and about their role in the community.

Language

Their language is in the Niger–Congo family. They think very highly of their language and speak it at home, working in the fields and at the market place, so it is not likely to disappear.

Working life

The Djimini are

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s. The more successful they are, the more respect they receive from the rest of the tribe. Men and women of all ages help with the farm work, to contribute to their family’s needs, as the Djimini grow all the food they need to survive. They grow

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

, corn,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, millet, beans, mangoes and cashews. They are paid poorly for them, even when the harvest is successful, so when there is drought, life is very difficult.

Recreation

In their spare time, the Djimini enjoy playing soccer. They have their own festivals and traditional dances, during which they wear masks which often have a trunk-like nose. They are known for their unique artwork, influenced by the neighboring Senufo people. Artwork includes masks made from wood carvings.

Beliefs

Animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...

is the main religious practice of the Djimini. This is a traditional

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n religion, which means they believe everything has a spirit inside it, for example inside the earth, moon, sun, lakes, rivers and seas. Almost 50% of the Djimini practise Folk Islam, a mixture of Christian practises and pagan practices, but only 1% are Christians. They have situated their houses around a

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Trop ...

tree for generations. They plant one at the site of every village and associate it with a good spirit that provides protection and good fortune for their people. Baobab trees can live to be thousands of years old. Because the Djimini depend on the food they grow, they believe that the ground holds spiritual blessings and many villages have priests who make sacrifices to the earth. Like many of their neighbouring tribes, the Djimini believe that when people die, their spirits have power over their descendants’ lives.

Education

Most Djimini children do not go to school, as their parents cannot afford the books and uniforms or to pay the fees. Instead the children are expected to help by working in the fields with their families.

References

{{Authority control Ethnic groups in Burkina Faso Ethnic groups in Ivory Coast Ethnic groups in Mali