A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Ba-Dako is described as a younger brother of Sarikin Rafi and a warrior entrusted with rear or flank guards in wars among the bori. His relationship to Rafi also appears in his spoken praise, together with a connection to Gozo. The song gives him quilted armour and repeatedly urges him to lead the way. These details distinguish his military role from his brother’s water associations.

At the dance he first parades, then takes out a looking-glass and rubs his face to improve his appearance and attract human mistresses. The collector attributes the same illnesses to him as to Rafi and lists different offering colours, but expresses only a suspicion about a rainbow connection. He expressly distinguishes Ba-Dako from Gajjimare. The profile therefore retains the warrior, kinship and mirror details without merging him with the rainbow spirit.

Rafi’s younger brotherRear and flank guardLooking-glass representation
01

Origins & earliest records

A. J. N. Tremearne combines interviews and descriptions of bori performances with comparative interpretation. These selected notices do not consistently name individual speakers; printed attributes are distinguished from his conjectures.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected spirit notice in chapter XXII, printed pp. 323; surrounding chapter context read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa

    A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and colonial-era interpreter · 1914

    XXII. Bori—the Mohammedan Spirits, printed pp. 323; attributed narrative and ritual representation.

Family, evolution & connections

Documented · canonical kinship

Sarikin Rafi

The prose calls Ba-Dako a younger brother of Sarikin Rafi; the praise formula uses the broader word relative. No shared parents are supplied, and the collector’s rainbow speculation does not alter the stated sibling relation.

Tremearne, The Ban of the Bori (1914), p. 323

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Digitized historical ethnographic accountTremearne — Ba-DakoResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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