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

Overview

Mai-Chibi, also called Mai-Zumbulku, is glossed as the One with the Navel. In war he sings behind the Yan Garke, the shield warriors, to encourage them. Tremearne attributes an enlarged or painful navel to his influence and gives a pigeon and ground-nut offering. His conclusion that the offering makes this a very young spirit is the collector’s interpretation, separate from the stated battlefield role.

The performance puts the hands on the stomach with elbows outward and rocks from side to side. Tremearne was unable to obtain the song, so the account supplies his encouraging function without its actual words. This short notice preserves a distinct navel-centred representation and supporting position behind the warriors, while leaving an independent origin episode and detailed body form unrecorded.

Sings behind shield warriorsHands on stomachRocking 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 notice in chapter XXV, printed pp. 364; complete chapter 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

    Chapter XXV, printed pp. 364; complete spirit notice and ritual representation.

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 — Mai-ChibiResearch 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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