The Baule

Baule
A loss is never easy to endure. I am mourning through the journey of time to flow with the idea of a missing puzzle piece that cannot be found. What are the events that led to the sudden light extinguishing? What could have been done to let that one remain? Why now? A change must create a future that allows the gifts of the taken to be realized. Can there be a place where you can just be? Is it through the pain and struggle that a more intentional life is lived? This pain I accept it on behalf of others so that they can move into the river that sustains life beyond just survival but jumps to experience all that is there to take in truly.

(The Baule people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). They belong to the Akan peoples who inhabited Ghana centuries ago. According to a legend, in the eighteenth century, the queen mother, Abena Pokua, had to lead her people west to the shores of Comoe, the land of Senufo.  In order to cross the river she sacrificed her own son.  This sacrifice was the origin of the name Baule, for Baouli means “the child has died”.

Baule art is sophisticated and diverse.  Masks, sculptures, doors and other objects allow a closer contact with the supernatural world. A mask of this type shown here was danced for the annual yam festival and also for entertainment during market days.)