Ouelessebougou, Mali, Africa

Here are some masks and statues in a shop. Can you tell which ones are covered with dust and which ones are not? Which mask do you think is the scariest?

Here are some small stools carved out of the stumps of trees. How many have carvings of people for the legs of the stool?

Here is an American woman buying little wooden hippopotamuses in a shop in Bamako. She is trying to get the shopkeeper to lower the price. It is common to try to get people to sell things for less. The masks on the wall are made from a wood called ebony.

Here are 3 teenage boys dancing in the village of Fadiobougou which is famous for their dancers. The boy on the left is playing a gourd shaker.

This man is holding a mask to his face. He's doing a dance where he pretends he's a demon that likes to eat dead bodies but is also afraid of them. Under the white cloth is a stick which he is pretending is a dead body. When he comes close to the cloth to pull it off the "dead body", he touches it, then screams and runs away from it. It is very funny to watch this dance. In this picture he is getting down to get a close look at the "dead body".

Before the drummers start playing, they hold fire near the heads of the drums so they will get tighter. This makes the pitch of the drum higher and it sounds better. What do you notice about this man's hat?

Here are the 3 teenage dancers from the village of Fadiobougou. How many things can you find that are the same about their costumes?