Fertility doll ·  Cameroon, Namchi · ID: 3034408

Description

wood, brown patina, torso and neck wrapped with strings of glass beads, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion, socle;
among the Namchi, unadorned dolls made by blacksmiths are young girl’s playthings. When beads, bells and coins are added, however, the doll becomes a surrogate baby for a woman who is having difficulty in getting pregnant. The woman treats the figure like a newborn. She feeds it gruel and carries it on her back, as a mother would a child. The decoration duplicates the adornment worn by young initiates returning to the village after their period of seclusion.

Comparing literature

Cameron, Elisabeth L., Isn't she a doll? Los Angeles 1996, p. 76 ff.