Mossi Tribeman
A village near Ouadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
We camped in a similar village to this one. The villages were composed of maybe 6 or 8 homes made of adobe with thatched roofs. The huts were round and the doorways were about 3 feet high, so that a person had to duck to enter, although a tall man or woman could stand in the center of the hut.
The low doorways were a form of defense. If a stranger entered, his head and neck entered first and it would be an easy matter for anyone, man, woman or child, to deliver a fatal blow.
This man, a member of the Mossi Tribe, squats in front of his home. There are drying peanuts in front of him. He wears a cowrie covered hat decorated with cow’s horns. This ceremonial hat denotes authority, perhaps he was the headman or chief. Cowrie shells are frequently used in costume decoration in West Africa. They ere used as money in the past and are still prized today.
You can’t see it here, because the photo is too small, but his face is covered with small scars that look as if they were made with a blade as thin and sharp as a razor. They are horizontal scars and follow the pattern of where his beard would grow. They add to his manliness in his culture