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The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's
secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
in
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
,
Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
,
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
, and the
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...
, introduced by the
Mane people The Manes (so called by the Portuguese), Mani or Manneh were invaders who attacked the western coast of Africa in what is now Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone throughout much of the sixteenth century. Background The widest deployment of political ...
(the Mande Elites leading large-scale migrations from the
Mali Empire The Mali Empire (Manding languages, Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or ''Manden ...
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 Sande, also known as zadεgi, bundu, bundo and bondo, is a women's initiation society in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The Sande society initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation. It is said ...
.


Structure

The Poro society was part of the culture introduced by
Mane people The Manes (so called by the Portuguese), Mani or Manneh were invaders who attacked the western coast of Africa in what is now Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone throughout much of the sixteenth century. Background The widest deployment of political ...
, migrants to the region as early as 1000 AD.Fyfe, Christopher
"Weighing the Probabilities."
Review: ''Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society and Trade in Western Africa, 1000–1630.'' By George E. Brooks.
Boulder, CO Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
:
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, 1994.
Two affiliated and secret associations exist in Sierra Leone, the Yassi and the
Bundu Bundu may refer to: * Bundu (state), a former state in what is now Senegal * Also known as the place where Aditya Kumar (BE/10023/12) was born and brought up * Bundu, India, a town in Jharkhand, India ** Bundu block, the larger administrative u ...
. The first is nominally reserved for women, but members of the Poro are admitted to certain ceremonies. All the female members of the Yassi must be also members of the Bundu, which is strictly reserved to women. In Liberia, the female equivalent of the Poro is the
Sande society Sande, also known as zadεgi, bundu, bundo and bondo, is a women's initiation society in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The Sande society initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation. It is said ...
. Of the three, the Poro is by far the most important. The entire native population is governed by its code of laws. It primarily represents a type of fraternal society to which even infants are temporarily admitted. The ceremony for them consists of carrying them into the Poro bush and out again.Alldridge, T.J. ''The Sherbro and its Hinterland'', (1901). There are also religious and civil aspects of the Poro. Under the former, boys join it at puberty in a rite of passage. Under its civil aspects, the society serves as a kind of native governing body, making laws, deciding on war and peace, etc.


Cultural context

In ''Culture and Customs of Liberia'' (2006) by Ayodeji Olukoju, the place of the Poro society in Liberian life is examined. "Liberian religious culture is characterised by a predisposition towards secrecy (encapsulated in the concept of ''ifa mo'' - "do not speak it") and an ingrained belief in the intervention of mysterious forces in human affairs".Olukoju, Ayodeji
''Culture and customs of Liberia''
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:
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, 2006. 24-147. .
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. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
"Both elite and non-elite Liberians usually attribute events to the activities of secret powers and forces." "Beliefs include the conviction that there are deep and hidden things about an individual that only diviners, priests, and other qualified persons can unravel. This presupposes that whatever exists or happens in the physical realm has foundations in the spirit world".


Social function

One of the social functions of secret societies like the Poro and Sande is to deter antisocial behavior or beliefs. Poro elders will determine cases of alleged witchcraft in the community.


Practices

The Poro society has its own special rituals, language, ancient Saharan script,
tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...
ing, and symbols. Details are scarce, due to an oath of secrecy. However, versions and iterations of this have been made public e.g. Vai Script,
Mende Script The Mende Kikakui script is a syllabary used for writing the Mende language of Sierra Leone. History The script was devised by Mohamed Turay (ca. 1850-1923), an Islamic scholar, at a town called Maka (Barri Chiefdom, southern Sierra Leone) aro ...
, and Kpelle syllabary. Those responsible for the public release of these scripts have claimed receipt of them through dreams when engaging with Europeans in the 19th and 20th century CE. This was done to conceal the origin of these scripts from European Colonisers.


Meetings

The Poro society usually meets in the dry season, between the months of October and May. The rendezvous is in the bush, at an enclosure, separated into apartments by mats and roofed only by the overhanging trees, serving as a club-house. There are three grades, the first for Chiefs and Rulers (
Paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...
), known as the "big men", the second for
Priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...
and the third for the crowd. The ceremonies of the Poro are presided over by the Poro devil, a man in fetish dress, who addresses the meeting through a long tube of wood. The wearing of wooden masks in Poro society masquerades is a representation of the spirit world of benign and malevolent spirits.
"The ceremonies of the Purrah are presided over by the Poro devil, a man in fetish dress, who addresses the meeting through a long tube of wood, known as a bull-roarer (voice distorter which delivers a bloodcurdling stream of sounds, and is made from a tube with holes cut into it over which discs of membrane from the egg sacks of a particular spider are spread over)."
The Liberian Poro is little different when it comes to ceremonies. If a ceremony has women, children and non-members taking part, the devil stays out. The Gbetoo is the only "fetish dressed up with long tube of wood" that can be seen. The poro devil is invisible even to most members.


Taboo

The Poro can place its
taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
on anything or anybody. As no member would defy its order, much trouble has been caused where the taboo has been laid upon crops. In 1897 the British local government was compelled to pass a special ordinance forbidding the imposition of the taboo on all indigenous products.


Other activities

In 2009, rock-throwing Poro members protested the selection of Elizabeth Simbiwa Sogbo-Tortu as the first female chief of the Nimiyama Chiefdom in eastern Sierra Leone. They barred her from taking office.


Activity by country


Liberia

During his rule, Charles Taylor is reported to have coopted the Poro Society, which helped him project an aura of mystery and invincibility.


See also

*
Sande society Sande, also known as zadεgi, bundu, bundo and bondo, is a women's initiation society in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The Sande society initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation. It is said ...
*
Leopard Society Leopard Society, leopard men, and Anyoto were names used for one or more secret societies that operated in West and Central Africa approximately between 1890 and 1935. It was believed that members of the society could transform into leopards thro ...
* Crocodile Society *
Secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...


References

*


Additional reading

*
Tim Butcher Tim Butcher (born 15 November 1967) is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author of '' Blood River'' (2007), ''Chasing the Devil'' (2010) and ''The Trigger'' (2014), travel books blending contemporary adventure with history ...
. ''Chasing the Devil - The Search for Africa's Fighting Spirit.''
Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...
, 2010. * P. Jan Vandenhoute. "Poro and Mask : A Few Comments on 'Masks as agents of social control in Northeast Liberia' by Dr. G.W. Harley." ''Working Papers in Ethnic Art'', 4.
State University of Ghent Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting of 50,000 students a ...
, 1989. {{Authority control Society of Sierra Leone Society of Liberia Society of Guinea Religion in Sierra Leone Religion in Liberia Religion in Guinea African secret societies