Baule

According to legend, at the end of the century XVIIIan Akan group, related to the Anyis, led by Queen Abla Pokou, niece of King Ashanti OsaiTutu, flees Ghana and tries to take refuge in Ivory Coast. He went to the death of the monarch when a war broke out over the succession to the throne between Abla and his brother Dako. Persecuted by Dako's troops, Abla is forced to flee to the neighbouring territory of Côte d'Ivoire as far as the river Comoé, infested with crocodile, west of Abenguru. Braking in their flight by this raging river and following the advice of their fortune-teller, the queen did not hesitate, to save her people and to be able to cross the river, to sacrifice her newborn son in order to obtain the help of the gods. Holding his son with both arms and lifting him over his head he threw him into the river shouting “baouli” (the child has died), thus giving a new name to his people. The crocodiles pelotated to get a part of the dam forming a compact and solid surface that allowed them to cross the river to their people. And this is how the people were born on this other shore of the Comore. BauléThe Baulé are located in the centre of Ivory Coast, in its capital Yamusukro and in the cities of Tiebisú, Tumodi, Dimbokro, Beumí and Sikasso, considered the moral capital of the Baulé, where legend tells that Queen Poku came with her people from Gana. They have ruled the country for forty years in the second half of the century XX. They learned, apparently, to carve the wood of the gourd and the aesthetic feeling that emerges from their masks and statues is unparalleled. For them, at birth, each individual leaves a family in the other world. In adulthood jealousy comes to the couple, instilled by the spouse of the afterlife. That is why the fortune teller orders to make a statue, as beautiful as possible, that will be welcomed as if the husband or wife of the other world came to reconcile with the spouse of the earth. After a ceremony, sort of a wedding, the statue will be kept in the bridal chamber, decorated and fed regularly. Blolo Bian is the husband and Blolo Blah the wife of the hereafter, our origin and our destiny. Therefore for I baulé their statues more than in relation to the world of ancestors are with the realm of divination. The Asian usu represent the spirits or geniuses of nature. They are intermediate divinities that can be favorable or harmful. In order to be favorable, the fortune-teller orders to carve an effigy as beautiful as possible, so that the genius will be at ease in his new cabin. He is usually depicted as a bearded man, of beautiful factions, sitting on a throne. Akan, often with an egg in hand, symbol of the universe. He will receive sacrifices and libations from families or from those possessed who will thus obtain his favors and protection. These statues will be transmitted from generation to generation to ensure the well-being of families.