The bateba, animated shrine figures of the thila
The bateba are the celebrated carved figures of Lobi art, but in religious terms they are far more than sculpture: each is a being poised between spirit and person, the embodied instrument of a thil. A tutelary spirit, speaking through the diviner, demands that a figure be carved and set upon its altar; once installed it belongs to the thil and acts on its behalf — guarding the compound, turning aside witchcraft, and in some cases taking sickness or grief upon itself in place of the family. The ethnographic literature distinguishes several functional kinds, among them the ordinary protective bateba phuwe, the aggressive or 'dangerous' figures of the bateba ti puo / thilbou type, the anomalous two-headed figures credited with sight in every direction, and the mourning bateba yadawura with hands raised to the head. Though grouped by these types, the Lobi hold that a figure's meaning depends on the particular thil and owner it serves rather than on any fixed iconographic code.
Domains
- apotropaic defence
Powers
- to defend their owner's household against witchcraft and harmful forces
- to keep watch in several directions at once against sorcery
- to grieve and take sorrow upon itself on behalf of its owner
Epithets
- thilbiaPiet Meyer, Kunst und Religion der Lobi (Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1981). (secondary); Daniela Bognolo, Lobi, Visions of Africa series (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2007). (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: The thila, tutelary nature deities of the LobiA bateba belongs to the thil that demanded its carving; it is the spirit's animated instrument and acts only at the thil's command.Christopher D. Roy, Art of the Upper Volta Rivers (Meudon: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1987). (secondary); Piet Meyer, Kunst und Religion der Lobi (Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1981). (secondary)
Sources
- The bateba are the carved wooden shrine figures of the Lobi, beings between spirit and person that belong to a thil, are animated by it, and carry out its orders to protect a household and ward off harm.: Piet Meyer, Kunst und Religion der Lobi (Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1981). (secondary); Christopher D. Roy, Art of the Upper Volta Rivers (Meudon: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1987). (secondary); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Figure (Bateba), Lobi,' Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection (museum accession record). (secondary)