Baga (Guinea) Headdress Wood

The Baga of southwestern Guinea are known for headdresses and bird-inspired sculptures, such as this piece. The larger sized headdress, like this piece, consists of two parts: the head and the base. The most striking feature of such Baga sculpture is the extremely long beak, which typically rests on a long neck. Other attributes include coiffure, nose, ears, and forehead. Simo society members use this headdress of two parts in order to represent the bird (anok, elek, or atyol). These sculptures are protective of the society in ritual and everyday life. These headdresses are carried into the fields at the beginning of the planting season, and are used in both agrarian and funerary rituals. The elek image of the Kamara society has a protector of this kind, it played an important role in the struggle against sorcerers. Among northern Baga of the Sitemu group, this figure was known as a-Tshol, which means "medicine". The word "medicine" in this reason signifies any substance known to have powers of healing or protection, including horns, shells, bark and leaves. This figure acted as a guardian figure of the sacred grove during young men's initiation. They also were used in rituals of healing, divination, and the pursuit of justice. When the a-Tshol was utilized during a dance, the headdress was just balanced on the dancer's head, rather than being attached. Some believe that in the case of the two-part headdress, the head may have swiveled during the dance.