CAT.124
status as initiates to their families and neighbors.
Male figure Boligouni or Dioi1 / 4 region
In the following weeks and months the Jodenw undertake their lo yaala,their"Jo
Wood. El 110 cm.
journey"to villages near and far where they have relatives, where their families may contract marriages,or where important sites related to Jo are located. In these villages they perform Jo songs and dances, demonstrating their newly gained knowledge of Jo matters.They return home a few months later for kanyenko,the ritual that marks the completion of initiation.They are washed with soap and water and anointed with oil to rid them of the medicines and impurities associated with their status as Jodenw. Henceforth they are known as Jo kenyEnw,"those who make sure the Jo is done well"(Male 1995:173-174).They will be responsible for training the next group of initiates when the seven-year cycle begins again. In addition to the seven-year cycle of initiations,the Jo society also has an annual cycle of rituals,the most important of which is called Jo ko don (the day of the Jo affair) according to my informants,orjara son,"the offering to the sweetness of life," according to Male (1995:316). Jara son takes place at the beginning of the rainy season3 and has as its goals to renew the annual cycle of the seasons,to encourage the fertility of both women and crops,to renew oaths to honor the ancestors,and to strengthen the Jo society's ritual objects by refreshing them with sacrifices. lora son culminates in a public ritual in which the leaders of Jo remove the Jornbgbniw or Jomooni(Jo statues)from thefaro bugu,the house in which the ritual objects oflo are stored,and carry them in a dancing procession to the lineage's main vestibule,the seat of its ancestors.The Jotigi(Jo chief) and two other high officials al째 purify them by pouring ladles of water over them, after which post-menopausal women thoroughly wash them with warm water and soap,anoint them with shea oil, and decorate them with beads (Ezra 1986:22; Male 1995:346-372).The statues,a nd the Jo itself,
BAMANA THE ART OF EXISTENCE IN MALI 133 1
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