Poro
Sign in to saveAlso known as Purrah, Purroh
thumb|Sjoerd Hofstra: Boys returning from their initiation in the Poro. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936 The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's secret society in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, introduced by the Mane people (the Mande Elites leading large-scale migrations from the Mali Empire into the southern coastal areas). It is sometimes referred to as a hunting society and only men are admitted to its ranks. The female counterpart of the Poro society is the Sande society.
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Cultural context
- Social function
- Practices
- Meetings
- Taboo
- Other activities
- Activity by country
- Liberia
- See also
- References
- Additional reading
thumb|Sjoerd Hofstra: Boys returning from their initiation in the Poro. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936 The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's secret society in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, introduced by the Mane people (the Mande Elites leading large-scale migrations from the Mali Empire into the southern coastal areas). It is sometimes referred to as a hunting society and only men are admitted to its ranks. The female counterpart of the Poro society is the Sande society.
==Structure== thumb|Sjoerd Hofstra: A "falui" masker, a one-armed warrior spirit. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936 thumb|Sjoerd Hofstra: A boy in Poro outfit. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Poro” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.