Head sculpture "baathil" ·  Burkina Faso, Lobi · ID: 3032593

Description

wood, slightly encrusted greyish brown patina, “phisa” coiffure, min. dam., missing parts through insect caused damage, fissures, on metal base;
such head stakes are meant as support for “khele”, a terrible power released by a killing. It is thrust into a mount of earth to form a “milkuur” shrine. The practice of carving a head without a body and sticking it on a shrine to symbolize the great power acquired by the murderers in the “milkuur” cult seems to originate from the ritual treatment that the Gan give the bodies of their kings and chief dignitaries. The bodies are always buried far away from the head.

Littérature comparée

Bognolo, Daniela, Lobi, Mailand 2007, p. 136