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

Overview

Ba-Gwariya, also called Matan Sarikin Gwari, is the chief female spirit of the grove and the wife of its ruler. Tremearne says she is sometimes confused with Arzikki Boboniya. Her representative covers the face with a cloth; one recorded explanation calls that face hideous. The nearby reference to Medusa is the collector’s comparison, not evidence that the spirits share an origin or identity.

After moving around the ring she sits, grinds imaginary corn on her thigh, looks about and swallows it when nobody is watching. Her song also uses Arzikki and Boboniya names and addresses a mother of Yerima and of citizens. The subsequent Nana Arzikki notice instead calls that spirit Yerima’s nurse, expressly not his mother. These overlapping songs and relationships are preserved as a source-level identity problem, rather than a clean merged biography.

Wife of grove chiefFace-covering clothImaginary corn grindingSecret swallowing gestureArzikki name overlap unresolved
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 XXVIII, printed pp. 388–389; adjoining 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

    XXVIII. Spirits of the Forest, Waters and Grove, pp. 388–389; ritual representation and attributed explanation.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

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

  1. Digitized historical ethnographic accountTremearne — Ba-GwariyaResearch 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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