Fertility Doll

These so-called fertility dolls of animal bones, usually the femur of rams, goats or pigs and even sometimes cow, are common in the villages of Bidjogo. These bones, or dolls, after being thoroughly cleaned and dried, are usually adorned with a small row of beads and often a rope so that the girl or young girl can carry her tied to her back or on a bandit. It's a way to train yourself to be a mother from childhood. Custom, that of dolls of various types, deeply rooted in many peoples of Africa. Other times they can be decorated with small shells and even vegetable fibers. Its use is mainly playful but sometimes it can also be ritual or magical, as Y says. Allainmat these dolls are endowed with propitiatory virtues. They are called “di kori” meaning “son or daughter of the bone”. And apparently, they favor the fertility of young women.

Women treat these dolls as if they were a child, they are the “sons of the bone”. And when the child of the pregnant woman comes into the world, he will give this doll to the child as if it were a toy. The young Bidjogos carry them on their backs until marriage, and in addition to toy and being a symbol of fertility they represent the child who will come to the world.