Mossi statue of Burkina Faso. Old room over 40 years old. Piece on base.

The people of Mossi, who lead a life of peasants and shepherds in the heart of Burkina Faso, are actually made up of different ethnic groups forming, on the social level, two distinct groups. It is the Nakomse who hold political power. The indigenous populations that their ancestors subjected to the 15th century when they invaded the region are currently called Tengabisi. It is from this heterogeneous population layer that religious leaders came. Among the Tergabisi, only the farmers (nioniosis), very numerous, and the blacksmiths (Saaba) use multiple masks (Wando, Sing. Wango), which they exhibit on the occasion of the tribute paid each year to the dead and that they store the rest of the time on the altar dedicated to the spirits of the ancestors. Masks betray, depending on the region, different influences. This is why there are five styles, to which we gave the name of the Mossi kingdoms: Ouagadougou, Yatenga, Risiam, Kaya and Boulsa. This facial mask is linked to the style of Ouagadougou, which is reminiscent of the works of Lela and Nuna (Gurunsi), neighboring peoples who are also the original populations of the Southwest and the center of the Mossi region. Apart from many zoomorphic types, this style has anthropomorphic masks representing an albinos (Wan-Mwega) or a Fulbe woman (Wan-Balinga). The Wan-Balinga mask, which has a three-bladed superstructure and a bearder, is distinguished from the Wan-Mwega mask only by its color: the face is tinted with black and not red. He evokes a mythical female figure, namely Poughtoenga ("The Barbe Woman") who, as a daughter of a nioniosis and mother of the first sovereign Mossi, oubri, is considered by nioniosis and nakomse as a common ancestor playing a unifying role.