Authentic Fali Fertility Doll – Northern Cameroon

Wood, cowries, vegetable fibres. Cm 15,5 high (6.10″); grams 81,6 (2.88 oz.).

The Fali people are any of several small ethnic groups of Africa. The Fali are concentrated in mountainous areas of northern Cameroon, but some also live in northeastern Nigeria.

The Fali people trace their ancestry to the Ngomma, who founded the ancient capital of Timpil. Other accounts trace the Fali’s origins to the Sao civilization on Lake Chad, which flourished from the tenth to the 16th centuries.

The original Fali religion is traditional African. It has been identified as monotheistic, involving belief in a creator god, Muttaf, and a mother goddess, Ona, the Earth. Followers of the Fali religion make prayers and offerings to ancestors to intercede with Faw on behalf of the living. The Fali “conceive of Muttaf not only as creator and organizer, but also as a just God who is undepictable by human intelligence.” The religion also includes belief in supernatural beings, including genies, sacred crocodiles, and the black snake, the master of darkness.

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