"féminin D'mba" or Nimba
National symbol - nationaal symbool - symbole national
The best-known of Guinea's masks are the Baga nimba, which depict the goddess of fertility, a woman with large
breasts and scarifications representing grains of rice, the main Baga crop. The Baga wear the masks during
weddings and agrarian festivals to beseech the goddess to increase the fertility of women or the earth.
Baga and Nalo women wear the wooden and raffia banda mask, which depicts a horned crocodile and invokes the
water spirits for rain. The Baga's bird-shaped labemp is used on festive occasions and celebrations marking
the end of initiation rites.
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