fyeahafrica:

Mende girls in a cloth draped bower at the completion of Sande schooling. (via rudolove)

The Mende people are one of the two largest and most dominant ethnic group in Sierra Leone, along with the Temne, making up 30% of Sierra Leone’s total population.

The Southern and Eastern Provinces of Sierra Leone are largely populated by the Mende people, with the exception of Kono District which is primarily inhabited by the Kono people.

The Mende belong to a larger group of Mande peoples who live throughout West Africa. The Mende are divided into two groups: The halemo are members of the hale or secret societies and kpowa are people who have never been initiated into the hale. The Mende believe that all humanistic and scientific power is passed down through the secret societies.

The Mende speak the Mende language among each other, and is spoken both the Mende people and by other Sierra Leonean ethnic groups as a regional lingua franca in southern Sierra Leone and in neighboring Liberia. From the 16th through the 18th century, hundreds of thousands of Mende were captured and transported to the Americas as slaves.

Sande is a women’s association found within the Mende people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea that initiates girls into adulthood, confers fertility, instills notions of morality and proper sexual comportment, and maintains an interest in the well-being of its members throughout their lives.

In addition, Sande champions women’s social and political interests and promotes their solidarity vis-a-vis the Poro, a complementary institution for men. The Sande society masquerade is a rare and perhaps unique African example of a wooden face mask controlled exclusively by women – a feature that highlights the extraordinary social position of women in this geographical region.

(source)

(via dynamicafrica)

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