Chi Wara

The Bambara of Mali are notable highly successful farmers, as they were when the first slave ships traveled the Atlantic from the sources of the Senegal and Gambia rivers to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana at the Mississippi Sound onto Ile Dauphine and on through Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain to Bayou St. Jean or to the Balise and up Mississippi River, to New Orleans in the early years of the 18th century.

The Bambara attributed their success to the lessons learned from a half-human, half-animal deity called chi wara, "working wild animal." Chi wara (or tsi wara), with his hooves and his mother's pointed stick, tilled the soil and turned wild grasses into grain. But because the people wasted the grain, chi wara returned to the earth. The farmers then created art and dance to recall him and his powers over nature.

These headdresses feature the antelope, giving visual form to important religious beliefs about fertility and growth. They were worn in dances at the beginning of the rainy season (or when a fallow field was re-seeded) to assure a good harvest. Dancers who wore these headdresses covered their bodies with long grasses and cloth. They went bent over using two canes, believing that if they stood upright, they would offend the deity. The dancers accompanied farmers to the fields, supervised the planting, and then returned to the village where they danced. The dance consisted of jumps, sudden leaps and turns reminiscent of the actions of the antelope.

Three different styles of chi wara headdresses have been associated with distinct geographic areas within Mali. The first is a vertical style in which the body and legs of the male antelope are small, but the mane, nuzzle and horns are elongated and elaborated. Its open work mane with a zigzag pattern is said to represent the course of the sun across the sky during the agricultural year. The female antelope in contrast is depicted simply as carrying a young on its back. This vertical style is typically found in the eastern parts of Mali (Segou region). The second is a horizontal representation of the antelope, generally more accurately showing the proportions of the animal. These are found in the northwest (Bamako region). The third type, from the southwest (Bougouni region), is highly abstract, generally smaller and included forms primarily of the antelope, but also of the aardvark and the pangolin (scaly anteater).

Fon Banners

The Fon peoples of Benin (in pre-colonial times called Dahomey) have a special tradition of textile art that reaches back 300 years. These works are cotton banners, some quite large, on which the symbols of the kings of Dahomey and other symbols of their political power were appliqued. The kings controlled the use and production of these works of art for the purpose of presenting themselves in splendor to the people. The banners were displayed on special occasions on rooftops, on pavilions, on large umbrellas and on hats worn by royalty.

The banners were created by family guilds that specialized in textile applique. The guilds maintained vast collections of visual images that a client could specify for a banner. A frequent subject matter for banners were the symbols of the twelve kings of Dahomey.

The banner was to be read from left to right and from top to bottom, beginning with the oldest, most ancient kings and ending with the last kings before the country was claimed by France. There were often many symbols for any particular king because the meaning of an image might reflect a distinctive characteristic of the king, such as his strength, or it might commemorate a specific event during the king's reign, or it might relate a magical story about the king.

The guild's artist would then design the composition, using the image against a dark or contrasting background. In terms of style, the images - birds, animals, people, weapons and, occasionally, plant life such as vines and trees and fruit - were simple, direct and minimal. They could be readily identified with the essence of the object. As such, they became symbols rather than detailed reproductions.

While the symbols for many of the kings were animals or birds or the head of a defeated enemy placed in a pot, the symbol for King Agadja was quite special. King Agadja ruled during the period when slaves from Dahomey were taken to Louisiana, that is, between 1719 and 1732. His symbol was a huge sailing ship, a European caravel boat.

Appliqued cloths made today in Benin and in the US continue to contain the simple, symbolic images of the older traditions. However, the works are less likely to contain the aggressive and war like images of the older royal messages.

Fon Banners

The Fon peoples of Benin (in pre-colonial times called Dahomey) have a special tradition of textile art that reaches back 300 years. These works are cotton banners, some quite large, on which the symbols of the kings of Dahomey and other symbols of their political power were appliqued. The kings controlled the use and production of these works of art for the purpose of presenting themselves in splendor to the people. The banners were displayed on special occasions on rooftops, on pavilions, on large umbrellas and on hats worn by royalty.

The banners were created by family guilds that specialized in textile applique. The guilds maintained vast collections of visual images that a client could specify for a banner. A frequent subject matter for banners were the symbols of the twelve kings of Dahomey.

The banner was to be read from left to right and from top to bottom, beginning with the oldest, most ancient kings and ending with the last kings before the country was claimed by France. There were often many symbols for any particular king because the meaning of an image might reflect a distinctive characteristic of the king, such as his strength, or it might commemorate a specific event during the king's reign, or it might relate a magical story about the king.

The guild's artist would then design the composition, using the image against a dark or contrasting background. In terms of style, the images - birds, animals, people, weapons and, occasionally, plant life such as vines and trees and fruit - were simple, direct and minimal. They could be readily identified with the essence of the object. As such, they became symbols rather than detailed reproductions.

While the symbols for many of the kings were animals or birds or the head of a defeated enemy placed in a pot, the symbol for King Agadja was quite special. King Agadja ruled during the period when slaves from Dahomey were taken to Louisiana, that is, between 1719 and 1732. His symbol was a huge sailing ship, a European caravel boat.

Appliqued cloths made today in Benin and in the US continue to contain the simple, symbolic images of the older traditions. However, the works are less likely to contain the aggressive and war like images of the older royal messages.

Fon Banners

The Fon peoples of Benin (in pre-colonial times called Dahomey) have a special tradition of textile art that reaches back 300 years. These works are cotton banners, some quite large, on which the symbols of the kings of Dahomey and other symbols of their political power were appliqued. The kings controlled the use and production of these works of art for the purpose of presenting themselves in splendor to the people. The banners were displayed on special occasions on rooftops, on pavilions, on large umbrellas and on hats worn by royalty.

The banners were created by family guilds that specialized in textile applique. The guilds maintained vast collections of visual images that a client could specify for a banner. A frequent subject matter for banners were the symbols of the twelve kings of Dahomey.

The banner was to be read from left to right and from top to bottom, beginning with the oldest, most ancient kings and ending with the last kings before the country was claimed by France. There were often many symbols for any particular king because the meaning of an image might reflect a distinctive characteristic of the king, such as his strength, or it might commemorate a specific event during the king's reign, or it might relate a magical story about the king.

The guild's artist would then design the composition, using the image against a dark or contrasting background. In terms of style, the images - birds, animals, people, weapons and, occasionally, plant life such as vines and trees and fruit - were simple, direct and minimal. They could be readily identified with the essence of the object. As such, they became symbols rather than detailed reproductions.

While the symbols for many of the kings were animals or birds or the head of a defeated enemy placed in a pot, the symbol for King Agadja was quite special. King Agadja ruled during the period when slaves from Dahomey were taken to Louisiana, that is, between 1719 and 1732. His symbol was a huge sailing ship, a European caravel boat.

Appliqued cloths made today in Benin and in the US continue to contain the simple, symbolic images of the older traditions. However, the works are less likely to contain the aggressive and war like images of the older royal messages.

A native Louisiana variety of indigo grew along the Mississippi River. The method of processing the indigo was brought by the Bambara from the Senegal and Gambia Rivers of Senegal and Mali. Here is a major indigoterie, indicated by Alexandre de Batz on the plantation of J. B. Prévost on the Mississippi at English Turn. Fort St. Leon was built adjacent, one half by Villars du Breuil and one half by Jonathas Darby.