Some famous African quotes

Let's review some famous African quotes today and their meanings:

" Jirikurun men o men ji la, a te ke bama ye."

This is a quote from the Bambara ethnic tribe. The Bambara ethnic tribe is mainly based in Mali. The translation in English is:

" No matter how long a log stays in the water, it doesn't become a crocodile."
Apparently in the daily life it is used by the Bambara people to explain that you can't be something you are not. Therefore you just have to be yourself.

" Talking doesn't fill the basket in the farm"

This proverb is from West Africa and means that success requires planning and hard work.

" If your house is burning, there is not time to go hunting."

This is also a proverb from West Africa and means that priorities are important in planning activities

Finally, don't forget that you can purchase some great African art if you visit the following link:

http://myworld.ebay.ie/africanbuffalo

Ebay: a miracle recipe

Good morning or good afternoon ( depending on where you are located).
I would like to share with you one of my feeling today. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am writing this blog to talk about the African culture and also to talk about my friend's articles that he is selling through Ebay ... or should I say that he is trying to sell through Ebay. His articles are GREAT, UNIQUE and all originally from Africa. His prices are really reasonnable. However he does not get much sales and this is a real dissapointment. He has been trying to sell for two weeks, he already has more than 100 euros ebay fees and just 3 sales...
Yestereday, I checked some other Ebay resellers ( selling the same type of articles) and I was disgusted when I saw the prices of their articles... They have EXACTLY the same type of articles and quality as my friend's articles and they sell their articles for $5000 more or less.... And people are buying from them... I am not going to tell you who I refer to but I can let you know that they have been on Ebay for 10 years more or less now and they seem to have made a lot of sales through all the years as they have a lot of good feedbacks... I have nothing against them in particular... I am a bit disgusted at the fact that Ebay customers do not seem to trust new seller and this is a pity as sometimes, new sellers might have better price/quality products than long time sellers...
By the way, if you want to purchase great African art, check out the following link:
http://myworld.ebay.ie/africanbuffalo/

African ethnic groups in Ivory Coast

Last time I talked a bit about the differEnt Ethnies groups in Ivory Coast. I found a really nice map in Wikipedia Germany. This map illustrates perfectly the different ethnies in Ivory Coast and where they are orginally located within Ivory Coast.

If you want to purchase unique African art, please visit the following link:

http://myworld.ebay.ie/africanbuffalo/

African masks meaning and uses

The use of masks is a major tradition in West and Central Africa. They are often used for ceremonial and religious purposes. Masks can be used in funerals, harvest celebrations and in other rituals. In the senufo culture, for instance, secret associations are part of their tradition and masks are used in the ceremonies and also in the burial rites.

Baoule Mask	Dan Mask	Baoule Mask

You can purchase a lot of different masks if you follow the links below:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237220074QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237200393QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237197949QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

One of the most abundant type of mask in the African culture is the animal representation such as the crocodiles mask, hawks and Buffalo masks.

You also have to know that there is different type of masks such as the face masks, the body masks, the passport masks.

Carving a mask is a very sophisticated and complicated art. In many part of Africa, the apprentice will have to work between 3 to 7 years with the master carver in order to fully learn how to create a mask. This art is actually very often transferred from father through son through several generations.

Masks can be made of any combination of the following materials: wood, grass, leather, fabric, cloth, metal, string...

African tribes in Cote d'Ivoire

There are over 60 ethnic groups in Côte d'Ivoire. The majors groups are the Baoule,Bété, Senufo, Malinke, Anyi, and Dan. All these ethnic groups are part sub-division of greater groups:
The Akan people:
Akan are originally from which is now called Ghana. The Baoulé and the Anyi are part of the Akan group. Akan societies are dominated by men. The Baoule are famous for agriculture.
The Abron (Brong in Ghana), Abouré, Ehotilé, and Nzima are also small sub-groups part of the Akan societies .

You can purchase African masks from the Baoule tribe if you go to the following link:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237069044QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237069257QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237197585QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The Kru people
We can find them particulary in the southwest region. Kru societies includes the Bété, Dida, Guéré, Wobé, and several smaller groups. For their livelihood, the Kru rely on farming supplemented by hunting in forest areas.

The Mandé people
The Malinké, the Soninké, the Bambara, the Juula are all part of the Mandé societies.
The Dan and the Gouro are part of the Southern Mandé.
You can purchase African masks from the Dan clan if you go to the following links:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237044375QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237044500QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Traditional-African-Mask-art_W0QQitemZ150237197705QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The Voltaic societies
The Sénoufo occupy north-central Côte d'Ivoire.

African dish: chicken Yassa

Today I am going to share with you the secrets to cook an African dish. The dish is called " Chicken Yassa". It is orginally from Senegal but a lot of people in Ivory Coast also cook this dish.

• What do you need?



-One chicken cut into serving sized pieces




- 1Kg of onions




- cooking oil




- a few carrots ( optional)




- black pepper




- 4 cloves minced garlic




- Maggi cubes




- Dijon mustard




- 8 tablespoons vinegar




- 8 tablespoons of lime





• What do you need to do?



- Make a marinade with the oil, lemon juice, onions and mustard ( the more onions,the better). Mix all ingredients in the marinade ( except the carrots) and allow to marinate for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.




- Sauté chicken for a few minutes on each side in hot oil in a frypan.




- While chicken is browning: Remove onions from marinade and sauté them in a large saucepan for a few minutes. Add remaining marinade and the optional vegetables and bring to a slow boil and cook at a boil for ten minutes. Cook the marinade into a sauce. Reduce heat.




- Add chicken to the sauce, cover and simmer until chicken is done.




- Serve with rice.






Enjoy... Let me know what you think if you try this dish

Ebony sculpture

Photobucket Album

This is now the 6th day that my friend has his articles on Ebay.ie and he still does not have any bids :(

So let's talk a bit more about his articles... For the moment all the articles that are on sales are made of Ebony.

• Do you know what is Ebony?

Ebony is an illness that attacks some African trees. Attacked by this illness the heart of the trees decays and the rest of the wood become hard and black. Ebony wood is an exotic wood probably most known for its use as fingerboards and keys for various musical instruments. In second place ebony wood, in its various species is the wood of choice by handcraft men for hand-made statues, masks…

• What type of wood is it?

Ebony wood has been valued since ancient times. It is hard and dark, and varies from deep black to dark red, among other colors. It can also be striped with black or shades of brown.

• Where is the wood used in the sculptures coming from?

The wood used is from Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast Ebony wood can be also referred to as "African Ebony" and does in fact come predominately from Africa. The Ivory Coast ebony wood is an exotic wood probably most known for its use as fingerboards and keys for various musical instruments and also for the hand-made statues.

And here are more pictures:

The picture on the left side represents an African hunter coming back from the hunt.

The second picture represents the Pokou Queen. There is an heroic legend behing this sculpture: According to the heroic legend, the Pokou Queen lead the Akan tribe and help them to run away from the invaders. She made sacrifice of her baby throwing him in the water in order to save her people. The Akan is one of the 60 ethnic group in Ivory Coast. This sculpture represents the moment before she threw a baby into the water.

You can purchase these two articles among others in you go to the following links:

Image one: http://cgi.ebay.ie/Ebony-Sculpture-African-hunter_W0QQitemZ150233932107QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Image two: http://cgi.ebay.ie/African-ebony-Sculpture-Queen-Pokou_W0QQitemZ150234095274QQihZ005QQcategoryZ553QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

New to Ebay... Very unique African art available

I have decided to create this blog for different purposes:

• I would like to share with you my interest about the African culture
  
• I would like to promote one of my friend's Ebay business (he is new to Ebay and needs some great promotion as he has very unique hand-made articles)

I am pretty new to the selling world of Ebay myself and I am really exited to be part of this adventure and to be able to help my friend.

By the way, let's introduce you to my friend and to some of his really nice and unique articles. His ebay username is AfricanBuffalo. You can find some additional information about him if you go to:

http://members.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=africanbuffalo

Find below some pictures. I will give you some more details in my coming posts.