Community associations guide religious practices in many areas of Africa and take responsibility for education, rituals of initiation into adulthood, and the well-being of the community. Such associations have helped shape many artistic traditions. In western Africa, for example, the Poro men's association has helped develop a strong tradition of ritual masks. The Poro association is active among the Mende, Gola, and Vai peoples of Liberia and Sierra Leone; the Senufo of Côte d'Ivoire; and other groups. Religions from outside sub-Saharan Africa, such as Islam and Christianity, have also influenced artistic traditions, especially in the north. But African artists have always transformed symbols or forms borrowed from foreign sources, either by using local materials, altering shapes or designs to conform to local traditions, or attaching their own uses or meanings to them. Mosques, for example, are a borrowed building type, but each African region that builds mosques has developed its own standards of mosque design.
In the region along the southwestern edge of the Sahara the inhabitants have developed an elaborate design of buttresses and minarets, while Moslems in eastern Africa tend to build simpler, flat-roofed structures. Christianity has influenced church architecture in 20th-century Africa, but in some places Christian symbols have taken on new meaning. The Kongo people of central Africa began to make small brass crosses after European missionaries introduced this symbol of Christianity. To the Kongo the cross served as a sign of authority, an object for healing, an oracle, and a hunting talisman. Western Africa is the home of many of the sculptural traditions for which African art has become internationally known. Wood carving is especially prominent among the Baule and Senufo of Côte d'Ivoire, the Mende of Sierra Leone, the Dogon and Bamana of Mali, the Fon of Benin, and the Yoruba and Igbo of Nigeria. Western Africa also claims an extensive range of other art forms, including clay sculpture, bronze casting, jewelry, and weaving. Some of these traditions are driven by religious practices in agricultural societies, others by the patronage of kings. Along the southwestern edge of the Sahara, many groups have long traditions of carving masks and other objects for use in rituals related to agriculture. For example, the Senufo people of Côte d'Ivoire hold a hoeing competition as one of several rituals that initiate men into adulthood.
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