As in many parts of Africa, Mossi dolls function
both as secular playthings for children and as
spiritually charged sources of fertility for
women. Although minimal and abstract in
form, these figures nevertheless embody the
most fundamental elements of femininity:
finely incised lines on the chest, and stomach
reproduce cosmetic scarification obtained by
adolescent girls; the stretched breasts are a
sign of motherhood; and the head shape
typifies the gyonfo or tri-lobed hairstyle worn
by married Mossi women in which the central
lobe extends from the front to the back of the
head. Such dolls may have been
commissioned from a smith or purchased at
the market. They are given to young girls by
their mothers. Like dolls in the western world,
Mossi dolls are educational toys used to train
little girls for their ultimate and important
roles as mothers. In addition to their use as
toys, Mossi dolls serve also as fertility aids to
newly married young women. They serve two
important roles in regard to this function. The
first permits the child’s soul to enter the world
of the their parents, thus inducing pregnancy.
The second assures that the child does not die
and return to the world of the ancestral spirits,
but will remain with their mother and clan,
thus assuring a healthy life. Should conception
result from sacrifices made to the spirits, the
mother will continue to nurture the doll just
as she does her real child. Once a figure fulfills
its purpose, it may be kept as an heirloom or
given to the child that it helped bring into the
world. The unique sculptural form of the Mossi
doll encompasses both the symbols of youth
and womanhood, ushering a small girl in to
womanhood and a young woman into
motherhood.
- (CK.0102)
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