User:Nelso4Bj/Bassa people (Liberia)

The Bassa people are a West African ethnic group primarily native to Liberia. The Bassa people are a subgroup of the larger Kru people of Liberia and Ivory Coast. They form a majority or a significant minority in Liberia's Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Margibi and Montserrado counties. In Liberia's capital of Monrovia, they are the largest ethnic group. With an overall population of about 1.05 million, they are the second largest ethnic group in Liberia (18%), after the Kpelle people (26%). Small Bassa communities are also found in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

The Bassa speak the Bassa language, a Kru language that belongs to the Niger-Congo family of languages. They had their own pictographic writing system but it went out of use in the 19th century, was rediscovered among the slaves of Brazil and the West Indies in 1890s, and reconstructed in early 1900 by Thomas Flo Darvin Lewis. The revived signs-based script is called Ehni Ka Se Fa.

In local languages, the Bassa people are also known as Gboboh, Adbassa or Bambog-Mbog people.

History
The Bassa people are from Western Sudan and later migrated to and lived in coastal West Africa and other parts including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo and Nigeria, Senegal while others settled in central African region of Cameroon and Congo. Geographically separated groups evolved their separate culture, language and society. The Bassa people are related to the Basari people of Togo and Senegal, the Bassa-Mpoku people in Congo regions, the Bassa people of Cameroon.

The Bassa people were located around the coastal regions for centuries before being displaced by the Duala. The linguistic evidence and oral traditions of these geographically diverse, small yet significant group suggests that their name Bassa may be related to Bassa Sooh Nyombe which means "Father Stone's people". Early European traders had trouble pronouncing the entire phrase, and the shorter form Bassa has been used in Western literature ever since.

The Dan people, neighbors of the Bassa in Liberia, were especially attracted to brass jewelry. Dan women wore significant amounts of brass jewelry, as the amount of brass was directly correlated to their husband's wealth. Many Dan women would wear several pairs of anklets and bracelets that could weigh up to 8 pounds each. Until brass jewelry was banned in the late 1930s by Liberia's minister of health, Rudolf Fuszek, that claimed the brass jewelry was the cause of chafing infections and orthopedic problems. The sudden surplus of brass would be melted down and recast for other purposes. The Bassa people are likely responsible for producing one of these new uses for brass among the Dan. they were miniature brass cast masks called ma go, or "small head".

Society
The Bassa people are traditionally settled farmers who grow yam, cassava, eddoes and plantain. They are a lineage-linked independent clans who live in villages, each with a chief.

The Bassa people are among those that practice the woman initiation society called Sande. (Also referred to as Bondo). The Sande / Bondo sub-culture is believed to be originated from the Mende people. The practice Sande (or Bondo), which consist of rituals involving special helmet / masks that some practicing cultures called Sowei / sowo. The masks themselves are not named, and Sowei / sowo, refers to the title of the association official that wears the helmet mask. These type of masks are made by numerous cultures leading to some distinction in style, but the purpose of the helmet mask is always a representation os a primordial ancestor spirit that originates from a body of water during a sacred journey by a member official.

Religion
The traditional religion of the Bassa people has a moral and ethical foundation, one that reveres ancestors and supernatural spirits.

The Sande / Bondo helmet masks, worn by a society official during special ceremonies, represent the idealized beauty of a female primordial ancestor spirit, believed to reside in bodies of water.

Christianity arrived among the Bassa people during the colonial era, and the first Bible was translated into Bassa language in 1922. The adoption process fused the idea of Christian God with their traditional idea of a Supreme Being and powerful first ancestor who is merciful and revengeful, rewarding the good and punishing the bad. The traditional religion has included secret rites of passage for men and women, such as the Sande society.

Numerous missionaries from different denominations of Christianity have been active among the Bassa people during the 20th century. These has led to many Bassa independent churches from Europe, North America, Africa and Evangelical movements. In contemporary times, the Bassa people predominantly practice Christianity, but they have retained elements of their traditional religion.

Art
During the late 1930s, the brass jewelry the Dan wore was banned, the surplus brass from the jewelry was melted down and recast for other things. One of those things were created by the Bassa for the Dan. Those were ma go, "small head", miniature masks that featured protruding open lips, flared nostrils, and pierced slit eyes, as well as a tattoo pattern from forehead to chin.