Kurumba

The Kurumba, another agricultural group living on the borders of Burkina Faso and into Mali, are said to have been chased from their native territory by Dogon invaders. However, Dutch archaeologists and anthropologists have challenged this long help belief (Paudrat in Huet p. 102). The majority of these people are now Muslims (At this writing, it is unknown how many currently practice this indigenous tradition).

The Kurumba call themselves Nioniosi and are grouped into several clans: the Sawadougou, the Oueremi, the Zale, the Tao and others. Their cultural masks are designed to establish a relationship between the elements of the myths and the cyclical event of funeral or agrarian rituals. Their sculptural antelope helmet masks- the adone, are mostly shown at the ceremonies marking the end of mourning for a "land chief." The spirit of the deceased is captured by the adone and temporarily placed into the seat of the altar. The carvers and wearers of the mask come exclusively from the Sawadougou clans who are said to be the direct descendants of the founder of the Nioniosi society (Paudrat in Huet 1978, p. 102).

According to the original myth, Sawadougou (also referred to a Yirige [Wassing 1968, p. 182]), the civilizing hero came down from the sky (this parallel’s the Bamana legends) wearing a mask. His wife and children were endowed with the features of the antelope, the hyena and the hare (Paudrat in Heut p. 102). They drove away the evil spirits at the first tilling of the land. He appears at the death ritual following the mourning period with the same task. (Wassing p. 182).