Boli

Boli is formed on a base of wood, bamboo or piece of horn covered by an amalgam active materials and vegetable substances such as leaves, barks, minerals such as earth, clay or organic such as blood, nails, horn, hair, teeth and even human blood. The three kingdoms of nature are present in him: the animal, vegetable and mineral. Boli is activated by the fetish through sacrificial blood. The blood of sacrifices and libations give him his crusty patina. This fetish, feared by its extraordinary powers, is the central element of the Kono rites. The Boli, duly sacralized and charged with force, captures the forces of nyama, spiritual principle that encourages all things. This man-made object is indefinable halfway between being, thing, and divinity. The Boli is gaining in strength as the years pass and receives new libations. From Boli immediate and precise results are expected. It is used to protect against evil spirits and evil eye, to heal from a disease, to favor a birth, to predict the future, to get a favor or a job, to attract rain and also for aggressive purposes such as wounding or getting the death of an enemy. It is the most important sacred object of the Bambara and cannot be contemplated by the uninitiated, it is an object loaded with extraordinary energy capable of fighting against all visible and invisible forces. It can act as an object of protection or as a weapon and must be handled with extreme caution by a specialist, as it could cause irreparable damage. It is kept in a sanctuary, far from the village.

In reality all Bambara fetishes are Boli, although this indefinite zoomorf fetish used in the Kono seems to have appropriated the term. The main boli of the Kono cult, of important dimensions, is the Watiriwa.