The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay by Patricia McKissack

Author:Patricia McKissack
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250113511
Publisher: Square Fish

Mandinka Arts and Ceremonies

Mandinka men and women were proud and reserved, which is reflected in their art, music, dance, and literature. Their ceremonies were expressions of pride in their culture and history. Ibn Battuta described a feast he attended. “On feast days the poets [griots] come in … each of them inside a figure resembling a thrush, made of feathers, and provided with a wooden head with a red beak, to look like a thrush’s head. They stand in front of the Sultan … and recite their poems. Their poems exhort the king to recall the good deeds of his predecessors, and imitate them so that the memory of his good deeds will outlive him.” Ibn Battuta must have found this odd, because he added, “I was told that this practice is a very old custom amongst them prior to the introduction of Islam, and that they have kept up.”

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