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5. Yassi Society Figure: Female Figure with Tray Base
Sherbro, Kanwo, Sitwa Chiefdom, Sherbro Island, Sierra Leone
Wood; 45 x 22 cm (17 3/4 x 8 5/8 in.)
19th–20th century
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia
37-22-279

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5. Yassi Society Figure: Female Figure with Tray Base

n many cultures throughout what is now Sierra Leone, the term "medicine" has historically been used to characterize power and knowledge controlled by members of a number of different secret societies. Such groups establish rules of social conduct, which the "medicines" guarantee will be respected. Their efficacy in enforcing sanctions derives from a spiritual agent that must be invoked to render their ingredients effective.

According to Sherbro belief, all deaths and diseases, except those caused by obvious violence, are attributed to potent "medicines" or to witchcraft, activated when a rule of conduct mandated by a "medicine" has been violated. Although most "medicines" are intended to cause injury or death, each has an antidote, which can be applied only in the presence of the agent or person who controls it.1 Consequently, when individuals fall ill, they will consult a diviner (theng no) to determine what "medicine" has caused their illness. In order to be treated for their ailment, they must ultimately appear before the "medicine," confess to a transgression, and provide compensation.

One such especially potent "medicine," or spiritual force, was once at the core of the Sherbro Yassi society. Yassi was historically active in both Mende and Sherbro communities. Its equivalent in Mende culture, Njayei, was characterized as an association concerned with the cure of certain mental conditions as well as the propagation of agricultural fertility. Membership was selective, predominantly female, and, according to some accounts, included those to whom the empowering "medicine" appeared in a dream.2 At the apex of its hierarchy of leadership, the supreme head was known as Behku Mama. Next in importance was Yamama, followed by a class of high-ranking officials with the title Kambeh.

This beautifully carved figure—collected by Henry Usher Hall during his 1936–37 expedition to Sherbro Island for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—was conceived as a serene sibyl to serve as the spirit medium for a force that has no known, defined form. A tranquil and silent priestess, she provided insights into past human misconduct and the key to future redemption in response to inquiries made on behalf of suppliants. The work's distinctive design integrates a female figure and a medicinal receptacle into a unified composition. Depicted from the waist up, with hands clasped together below her breasts, the figure appears to levitate above the surface of the tray. Despite her ethereal quality, she embodies Sherbro ideals of cultivated refinement and healthy, mature womanhood through her elaborately designed coiffure, luminous skin, and long neck with pronounced neck rings. Hall's documentation indicates that such a work was placed as a guardian in front of the compartment within the Yassi meetinghouse where the "medicine" was kept. The Yassi structure functioned as a treatment center for those afflicted by the "medicine," and its presence was distinguished in the community by a trademark sign of white, black, yellow, and brown spots.

Such works were removed from the Yassi meetinghouse and carried aloft in public processions to celebrate the initiation of new members and to commemorate a member's death. "When newly initiated members are brought before the public," observed Hall, "one of the Kambe[h] leads the procession carrying the figure on her head. Portions of the 'Yassi medicine' are placed in the bowl."3

Although Hall simply emphasized its therapeutic associations, an earlier commentator on the use of Yassi sculpture, T. J. Alldridge, described it as having a divinatory function in which it acted as a spirit mediator for the "medicine."4 According to Alldridge, the intangible Yassi force interacted with its caretakers through this figurative spokeswoman, whom he referred to as "Minsereh."5 On such occasions, the Yamama or Kambeh interrogated the sculptural representation to establish whether the Yassi "medicine" had been responsible for an individual's problem. In order for it to take on the role of interpreter, the figure was anointed with the "medicine." The Yassi official then held the figure at waist level in both hands and posed questions concerning the individual's affliction. This was addressed through inquiries into whether the individual might have violated some form of Yassi social mores. The figure signaled negative responses through gradual inclinations toward the official's chest and assented by remaining immobile.6 Beyond the context of these consultations, the figures were also purported to communicate with Yassi leaders through dreams.

A work such as this, in addition to acting as the public insignia of a Yassi society and as a visual metaphor for the individuals invested with the powers of the "medicine," enabled the Sherbro community to have a concrete, tangible point of contact with this intangible force. Other separate and distinct regional sculptural traditions reflect a comparable dynamic among "medicines," those who have knowledge of their properties, and members of the community. Both Sherbro and Mende female initiation societies have similar full-bodied representations of female figures that stand beside the "medicine" in the meetinghouse and are brought out and displayed on public occasions.7 Such works feature a similar idealized feminine aesthetic, suggesting a powerful connection between transcendent beauty and spiritual mediation.

1. Hall 1938, p. 11.

2. Little 1951, p. 240.

3. Hall, quoted in Hart 1984, p. 85.

4. Alldridge 1901, pp. 147–48.

5. W. A. Hart has suggested that when Alldridge inquired about the subject of such representations and they were described to him as min (the Sherbro term for "spirit"), he misunderstood min si le ("the spirits") to be a proper name. In contrast, Hall used the term "Kambe[h]," which is also the name of the Yassi official who appears to have been designated to interact with the sculpture most extensively. Hart 1984, pp. 84–85.

6. Alldridge 1901, p. 148.

7. Hart 1984, pp. 84–86.