are women, there is Bondo/Sande” denotes the
devotion of women to the society. Initiation into
Bondo/Sande is voluntary in contemporary times
and may be necessary to become a successful female
politician; but in earlier periods in West Africa, it
would have been unthinkable for a woman not to
be initiated into a Bondo/Sande society. This entry
looks at the social context of initiation, the process,
and its links to African religion.
Social ContextThere are numerous responses of people to the
environment in Africa, and everywhere one finds
commonality in approaches to the divine, the soci-
ety, and the ancestors. It is this commonality or
African cultural unity that allows the great cul-
tural multiplex to be examined from the stand-
point of one general civilization. Examination of
the basic tenets of African female societies reveals
a common theme of metaphysically transforming
young girls into beautiful, refined women.
Initiation into Bondo/Sande is psychologically
and spiritually transformative. Femalesdie into
Sande/Bondo. This means that they give up the
behaviors of children and assume roles and
responsibilities of adult women in the community.
The belief is that children are born in the physical
realm and remain children until they complete
the initiation ritual; therefore, girls ritually die as
children and are reborn as adults. At the appropri-
ate time in the initiation process, initiates are taken
to the river and washed as a newborn baby, sym-
bolic of new birth.
The girls are also given new names, symbolic of
an individual’s transformation into a higher being.
As higher beings, young women are created to be
finer, better people. The overarching ontological
theme of initiation rites is metamorphic. One of
the symbols on the mask used in the initiation cer-
emony is a butterfly, which symbolizes emergence
from a lower being to an evolved higher being.
The ProcessThe transformation process begins in a section of
the forest consecrated as the sacred forest. The
campus is surrounded by a fence to ensure pri-
vacy. According to some scholars, the society is
Sàndè, whereas the buildings and campus are the
bòndò proper. New initiates enter and remain in
the sacred forest for a period that can range from
a few months to 1 year. The location is always
near a river.
Water, trees, stones, the sacred forest, and other
elements of nature are interconnected with the rit-
ual of initiation. Water, for example, is regarded
as the origin of life. The river is regarded as the
place of crossing from the village to the forest and
vice versa. Crossing the river relates to all sorts of
crossings; in death, for example, the deceased is
said to cross the river to the otherworld, or in the
resurrection of the masked spirit of a-Nowo, who
is fetched from beyond the water. A zigzag line,
the hieroglyph for water all over Africa, is written
on the forehead of theNöwomask.
Hojo—white clay, kaolin, or porcelain clay—is
found in the river bed and at the riverside. The
highest quality ofhojois found in the riverbed
and is the most difficult to obtain. Initiates paint
their faces, and in some rural areas, they paint
their entire bodies white withhojo. Hojo is the
highest ideals of beauty, perfection, and goodness.
For Sande/Bondo, white is significant because the
color is linked with the spirit world and with the
secret parts of human society, where people strive
for the highest spiritual and moral ideals.
However, black indicates the metaphysical process
of refinement and acculturation.
A comprehensive education is a critical compo-
nent of the Bondo/Sande initiation process. There
are four important leaders in the institution. First,
there is a chief official who represents spirits of
female ancestors. She has the ability to transform
into a spirit being. When she dances on special
occasions, her identity is concealed by a mask and
a special dress. Below the chief are an assistant
leader, a mother, and a supervisor. The supervisor
is responsible for cooking, washing, and general
domestic affairs. This team of women teaches
young initiates myths, ethics, herbal medicine,
health and hygiene, preparation of cosmetics,
spinning, dancing, singing, and storytelling. In
addition, they teach how to be wives and mothers
and other duties necessary to be fully functioning
members in an adult society.Links to Religion
Rituals, ceremonies, and festivals are long-standing
traditions in African culture. Although the rites
of initiation and the meanings embedded in signs134 Bondo Society