Mende people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
The Mende
Total population

1.7 million (30% of Sierra Leone's population)
Regions with significant populations
Southern Province, Eastern Province
Languages
Mende language
Religions
Islam, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Vai, Kissi, Sherbro, Kpelle

The Mende are one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, along with the Temne. They primarily live in the Southern Province and Eastern Provinces of the country and make up about 30% of the Sierra Leone's total population. Sierra Leone's politics have been traditionally been dominated by the Mende. The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), one of the two major political parties in the country, is based among the Mende in the South of the country.

Contents

[edit] History

Their cultural and oral traditions indicate that the Mende migrated to the area from the western Sudan in several waves between the 2nd and 16th centuries and are part of greater Mandé society and linguistic group. Ethnologists identify three different sub-groups. The Kpa-Mende live to the west in the coastal bush, while the Sewa Mende are in the central forests. The Ko-Mende (or Kolo Mende) also live in the forests but generally to the north of the Sewa. (Olson, 1996).

Regional warfare throughout the 19th century led to the capture and sale of many Mende-speakers into slavery. Most notable were those found aboard the Amistad in 1839, who eventually won their freedom and were repatriated. This event involved fifty-two Mende tribesmen, purchased by Portuguese slavers in 1839, who were shipped via the Middle Passage to Havana, Cuba where they were sold to Cuban sugar plantation owners, José Ruiz and Pedro Montez. After working the plantation, they were placed on the schooner Amistad and shipped to another Cuban plantation. On the way they escaped their bondage and were led in a rebellion by Sengbe Pieh. They set sail for Africa. Their efforts to return home were frustrated by the ship's remaining crew, who ensured that no progress was made, and the ship was intercepted off Long Island, New York, by a U.S. Coastal brig. Ruiz and Montez denounced the Mende and asserted that they were their property. The ensuing case, heard in Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, affirmed that the men were free, and resulted in the return of the thirty-six surviving Mende to their homes.

In the 1930s African American linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner found a Gullah family in coastal Georgia that had preserved an ancient song in the Mende Language ("A waka"), passing it down for 200 years. In the 1990s three modern researchers -- Joseph Opala, Cynthia Schmidt, and Tazieff Koroma -- located a Mende village in Sierra Leone where the same song is still sung today. The story of this ancient Mende song, and its survival in both Africa and the US, is chronicled in the documentary film The Language You Cry In.

Now, in Sierra Leone, Mendes are mostly found in the southern and eastern part of the country. Some of the major cities with significant Mende population are include Bo, Kenema, Kailahun and Moyamba.

[edit] Tradition and culture

The Mende live primarily in villages of 70 to 250 residents, which are situated from 1.5 to 5 kilometers apart. There is little or no mechanization over the greater part of rural Mende country. Mende farmers use hoes and machetes, but few other tools. The Mende are generally known as growers of rice and several other crops, practicing crop rotation to protect soil productivity. Coffee, cocoa, and ginger are grown as cash crops, whereas rice, pepper, groundnuts, beniseed, and palm oil are grown for local consumption. Rice cooperatives have been formed in some rural areas.

Traditionally, Mende farming has been carried out by labour groups organised on a local basis and moving from farm to farm.(NIIP, 1973) Work is divided by gender: men attend to the heavy work of clearing the land for planting rice while women are occupied with cleaning and pounding rice, fishing, and weeding the planted crops. This routine is followed during ten months of every year, with a couple of months left around the New Year, when they can spend more time in the village engaging in domestic pursuits like house building.

The Mende are patrilineal, patrilocal, and polygamous. The household unit is represented by at least one man and perhaps several of his brothers, with all of their wives and children. One or more brothers and married sisters usually leave sooner or later and are incorporated into other residential units. The senior male has moral authority—the right to respect and obedience—over the family as a whole, especially with regard to the negotiation of debts, damages, and bride-wealth.

[edit] Secret society

[edit] Poro Society

One of the greatest sins a Mende man can commit is to give away the secrets of the their tribe. The Poro society is the male equivalent to the Sande society. When inducted into this society Mende boys are initiated into manhood. Many of their rituals parallel those of the Sande society.

The Poro prepares men for leadership in the community, so they might attain wisdom, accept responsibility, and gain power. It begins with the child's grade of discovery, followed by extensive training and service. During the seven-year initiation period, the young men converse with each other using a secret language and passwords, known only to other Poro members. To an outsider, it would sound like babble, but the member always knows and understands what is being said. This is part of the mystery of this secret society.

At the beginning, young men aged 20 are called into the society and are trained by the group above them, along with a few elders. There is much work to be done during the initiation process. Dancing the masks is part of this work, but not the most important part. Only through work does the dance of the mask become meaningful.

[edit] Sande society

All Mende women when they reach puberty begin the initiation process into the Sande society. The goals of this secret society are to teach young Mende women the responsibilities of adulthood. The girls are taught to be hard working and modest in their behavior, especially towards their elders. Sande influences every aspect of a Mende woman's life; it is present before birth and still present after.

Sande is the guardian of women; their protector and guide through life. It is Sande that grants a woman with an identity and a personality. Mende women love Sande, they celebrate it and treasure it, and pass it down through the generations. The Sande society arouses the highest aspirations among its members. It is concerned with defining what it is to be human and of discovering the ways of promoting love, justice, and harmony. It is a moral philosophy that focuses on the perpetual refinement of the individual. Sande leaders serve as models to women in the community. They exemplify the highest of Mende ideals, and they have the duty of enforcing positive social relationships and of removing any harm that might come to women in their community. "This is Sande; women together in their womanhood, in a free exchange of words and actions among sisters. Where ever two or three women are gathered together, there is the spirit of Sande.

[edit] Sande Hierarchy

The Sande society is organized by a hierarchy of positions. The sowie are the highest ranking leaders of the group. It is their job to model to the Mende women the utmost of Mende social values. It is also their duty to enforce proper social relationships and to remove anything that might be harmful to the women in their community. The sowie have control over certain sacred knowledge that is essential to the development of success and happiness in an individual and also to the well being of the community. They are the experts of the Sande women and have access to spirit ancestors and forces of nature.

The rank below sowie is ligba. There are two grades within ligba; Ligba Wa (senior) and Ligba Wulo (junior). In any group there is only one Ligba Wa, she is an executive officer in Sande. Before a woman can take a leadership role in artistic activities she must be eligible at least as a Ligba Wulo. An ordinary member is referred to as nyaha. The word indicates that the Sande initiation makes a woman of a child, and every woman into a wife. An initiate in training is called mbogdoni. A non-member is kpowa. As a noun kpowa means "an ignoramus, a dummy,a fool" as a verb it means "to become insane or deranged.

[edit] Arts

Much Mandé art is in the form of jewelry and carvings. The masks associated with the fraternal and sorority associations of the Marka and the Mendé are probably the best-known, and finely crafted in the region. The Mandé also produce beautifully weaved fabrics which are popular throughout western Africa, and gold and silver necklaces, bracelets, armlets, and earrings. The bells on the necklaces are of the type believed capable of being heard by spirits, ringing in both worlds, that of the ancestors and the living. Mandé hunters often wear a single bell that can be easily silenced when stealth is necessary. Women, on the other hand, often wear multiple bells, referring to concepts of community, since the bells ring harmoniously together.

[edit] Mende masks

Masks are the collective Mind of Mende community; viewed as one body, they are the Spirit of the Mende people. The Mende masked figures are a reminder that human beings have a dual existence; they live in the concrete world of flesh and material things and the spirit world of dreams, faith, aspirations and imagination.

The features of a Mende mask convey Mende ideals of female morality and physical beauty. The bird on top of the head represents a woman's natural intuition that lets her see and know things that others can't. The high or broad forehead represents good luck or the sharp, contemplated mind of the ideal Sande woman. Downcast eyes symbolize a spiritual nature and it is through these small slits that a woman wearing the mask would look out of. The small mouth signifies the ideal woman's quite and humble character. The markings on the cheeks are representative of the decorative scars girls receive as they step into womanhood. The scars are a symbol of her new, harder life. The neck rolls are an indication of the health of an ideal women. In the Mende culture full figured woman are beautiful. The intricate hairstyles reveal the close ties within a community of women. The holes at the base of the mask are where the rest of the costume is attached. A woman who wears these masks must not expose any part of her body or a vengeful spirit may take possession of her. Women often cover their bodies with masses of raffia or black cloth.

When a girl becomes initiated into the Sande society the village's master woodcarver creates a special mask just for her. The woodcarver must wait until he has a dream that guides him to make the mask a certain way for the recipient. A mask must be kept hidden in a secret place when no one is wearing it.

[edit] Dancing

Learning dance is a harsh discipline that every Mende girl must tackle. Girls practice for hours at a time until they drop from exhaustion. Ndoli jowei, the expert in dancing is in charge of teaching young Mende girls to dance. When girls make a mistake in the steps they are whipped with a switch until they get it right. Often girls are awoken in the middle of the night to practice the dance; sometimes they are forced to stay awake for nearly 48 hours dancing almost the entire time. By the end of their brutal training the girls have transformed into young woman who are tough and confident even in the harshest of conditions. They are in great physical shape and have endurance and stamina.

Gonde is also a Ndoli jowei, but rather than the harsh enforcer she is the comic relief. Gonde becomes a friend to the initiates, amusing them to help them forget the hard ordeals they are going through. She coaches the girls that are slow in dancing encouraging the girls to work hard. "Gonde is a funny, lovable character who lightens the gloom and reminds everyone that Sande is not always so deadly serious.

Ndoli jowei is the principle spirit for celebration, although she also appears on other occasions besides celebrations. In Sande initiation there are three major events in which the ndoli jowei appear publicly. The first occurs 1-3 days after the initiates have been taken into the bush to be circumcised. This event is known as yaya gbegbi. At this time the ndoli jowei comes into town with a group of Sande women while the initiates stay in the bush recovering from their operations. The women come into town to tell men they have initiated people into Sande; they go through the town waving leaves and gathering food and other supplies that they need. Ndoli jowei does not dance on this occasion because it is not yet time for celebration. She is there only as a reminder of the powerful medicine that has been summoned by the Sande session, which validates the unruly behavior of the Sande women. The next time ndoli jowei appears is at a minor feast called Kpete gbula yombo le or Sowo mba yili gbi. At this occasion an announcement is made to inform people of the date for the gani celebration; which is the last event of the Sande initiation that ndoli jowei appears at. At this time the new initiates are brought into town for the first time since the initiation process began; accompanied by ndoli jowei. This is a happy occasion where dances are performed by both the maskers and the initiates.

[edit] Notable Mende people

[edit] Politicians

  • Sengbe Pieh, a warrior from Sierra Leone who lead a successful rebellion on the slave ship, La Amistad in North America.
  • Sir Milton Margai, lead Sierra Leone to independence in 1961, and became the nation's first prime minister from 1961-1964.
  • Sir Albert Margai, second prime minister of Sierra Leone from 1964-1967; the brother of Sir Milton Margai and father of Charles Margai.
  • David Lansana, former Head of State of Sierra Leone
  • Julius Maada Bio, former Head of State of Sierra Leone.
  • Solomon Berewa, vice-president of Sierra Leone from 2002-2007.
  • Francis Minah, served as Sierra Leone's minister of Justice and Attorney General from 1978-1985 and Sierra Leone's vice president from 1985-1987.
  • Albert Joe Demby, former vice-president of Sierra Leone
  • John Benjamin, Sierra Leonean minister of finance from 2002-2007.
  • Charles Margai, Sierra Leonean politician; son of Albert Margai and nephew of Milton Margai.
  • Samuel Hinga Norman, Sierra Leone defense minister from 1998- 2002 and former head of the militant group the Civil Defense Forces (commonly known as the Kamajors).
  • Sam Bockarie, one of the leading members of the rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
  • Sir Banja Tejan-Sie, former Sierra Leone attorney general and one of the founding members of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).
  • Joseph Ganda, Sierra Leonean Archbishop.
  • John Karimu, Sierra Leonean politician.
  • Joe Robert Pemagbi, Sierra Leone ambassador to the United Nations.
  • Mary Musa, mayor of Koidu Town
  • Solomon Musa, vice chairman of the NPRC, a military government that rule Sierra Leone from 1992-1996.
  • Augustine Bockarie, member of parliament of Sierra Leone representing Kono District
  • Madam Ella Koblo Gulama, prominent Sierra Leonean politician and the first woman to be elected in the parliament of Sierra Leone and the first woman to be elected as cabinet minister
  • Peter Vandy, Sierra Leonean Politician.
  • Bindi Hindowa Samba, paramount chief of Bo District
  • Allieu Kondewa, former commander of the Civil Defence Forces.
  • Nyagua, was a respected Mende chief from Eastern Sierra Leone during colonial era.

Joseph Moiba, Theologian, Priest and educator

[edit] Musicians/models

Joseph MOIBA, Theologian, Priest and Educationist

[edit] Football stars

[edit] References

  • Fage, John D. History of Africa. Routledge; 4th edition (2001).
  • Olson, James S. The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary (1996).
  • National Institute of Industrial Psychology (Great Britain). Occupational Psychology (1973).

[edit] Notes