superb statue - Bambara - Mali

Statue Jonyeleni - Bambara / Bamana - Mali - Rituel Jo
The figurines called Jonyeleni are representations of the woman, the primal origin of the Jo.

They are the materialization of the soul of the feminine entity that is the source of the creation of the initiatory practices that organize and maintain social order.

These statues recall the girl in her ideal state at her highest level of physical attractiveness.

The Jonyeleni statuettes are used during the seven-year initiations that see them go from village to village, carried by the Jodenw.

One of the purposes of these itinerant journeys is the “reactualization” of past alliances between families for the future marriage of the young.

Renewnelyeni “Sweetness of Life”:
it's the name of the ritual day when these feminine figures, references to an ideal of feminine beauty, are washed, purified, oiled and then displayed.

That day, at the beginning of the rainy season, we ask them to be the guarantors of the fertility of the land, the fecundity of women, and the perpetuation of good relations with the Ancestors.