African Arts Gallery

African Art from Cameroon.
This African fertility doll symbolizes the marriage vows and the child that will be born from this union. It is the fiancé who makes it and decorates it with multiple trinkets before offering it to the young woman. A calabash pierced with holes, surmounted by a head, is wrapped in fragments of textile and draped with multiple necklaces of pearls, associated with metal objects. The Kirdi , or "pagans", as the Islamized peoples have called them, are established in the far north of Cameroon, on the border with Nigeria.
They include the Matakam, Kapsiki, Margui, Mofou, Massa, Toupouri, Fali, Namchi, Bata, Do ayo... They live from agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry.
Among the Fali, ancestor worship is illustrated by the great importance given to the skulls of the deceased, because thought and knowledge resided there.
The use of dolls by young African women is not exclusively within the initiatory context. When menstruation begins, the girl is considered a potential mother. In many ethnic groups, the search for fertility is then done by means of initiation rites. Wooden figures will then be carved, some reflecting both genders, in many cases clothed in beads and clothing.