PRESENTATION BY MRS THERESA JACOBS

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, A very good evening to you all!
I am pleased to be with you this evening, and indeed honoured to address such
a distinguished Bassa audience on a subject that is without doubt as important
as it is about our culture. Allow me to therefore take this opportunity to
express my sincere appreciation to our dynamic President, Mr. Abraham
William, the Board and the organizers of the UNIBOA convention for their kind
invitation to me to deliver a Presentation of the BASSA people. Our History
and Culture. Most importantly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to The
Uniboa’s family and all visitors to The UNIBOA CONVENTION. Let me
commend both organizers for organizing such an important and relevant
convention, and for their continued efforts towards the promotion and
protection of our culture, in Africa and the world at large.

Let me start by asking a question

The Bassa people OF (Liberia)
WHO ARE WE / They?

The Bassa people are a West African ethnic group primarily native to Liberia.
The Bassa people are a subgroup of the larger Kru people of Liberia and Ivory
Coast. They form a majority or a significant minority in Liberia's Grand Bassa,
Rivercess, Margibi and Montserrado counties.
In Liberia's capital of Monrovia, we are the largest ethnic group.
With an overall population of about 1.05 million, and we are the second
largest ethnic group in Liberia (18%), after the Kpelle people (26%).

The Bassa people speak the Bassa language, a Kru language that belongs to the
Niger-Congo family of languages.
They had their own pictographic writing system but it went out of use in the
19th century, was rediscovered among the slaves of Brazil and the West Indies
in 1890s, and reconstructed in early 1900 by Thomas Flo Darvin Lewis.
The Bassa people has an origin. They are people who lately left Egypt in early
manifer era and migrated south then west sometime after the collapsed of at
Bassa. Emperor and the invasion and the pension in 6th century; That’s where
we came from, from Egypt.
They came from the South and North, then come through some African
countries like Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon etc.
Now, the name Bassa may be related to Bassa Sooh Nyombe which means
"Father Stone's people". Early European traders had trouble pronouncing the
entire phrase, and the shorter form Bassa has been used in Western literature
ever since.
So, the Bassa people that was sold went into slavery, when to live in Brazil and
the west Indies, they were there, they tried to practices their Tradition
Communication while they were in slavery until Dr. Lewis meant with the group
and asked them how they communicate with each other. So, when he came to
Liberia, he development it into character and organized a Bassa institution.
The communication derives from a Society call the Zoes bush, there where they
practice how to communicate with each other, and they use leave as paper and
their teeth as pen to write with.
During that time, the Bassa people will tread the leave and put it at the
interception of the road for his girlfriend or whoever he or she wants that letter
to go to, and when that person uses (pass on that) road and see that leave they
will know exactly what that person is trying to say.
At that time, the man who use to teach them was professor Dewax. he used to
teach the people in the town but something happens: the chief head wife saw
the communication and wanted to learn. Dewax though this lady and the chief
got maid and then sold he into slavery. Those were the beginning of the
communication.
The Bassa unwritten history says: these guys were traveling on foot with their
loggias. The loggias they had is what we call (kajal). They use the palm
branches as kajal; then, when they came to Buchanan, there is a litter creak in
Buchanan call ‘’Gboh’’, and when they got there, they decided to rest. they put
all their things down; while they were sitting, they notice that all their things
got spoiled and cannot be carry anymore. They look at it and said ooh Gboboh
Sooh meaning ‘’our kajal got ratting ooo’’. That was how they give the name
Buchanan Gboboh Sooh, came about.

The government of the Bassa people:

When the Bassa people was established in Liberia, they had their own
government. Each villages had a chief and the highest authorise have a
paramount chief but during those days it was called king, follow by clan chief,
Town chief etc. so that was how they set-up their government. One of the
towns in Monrovia call King-Gray was named after one of the Bassa chief in
Bob Gray. According to history, Bob Gray was the one who used to carry water
for the free-slaves. The first settlement of the Bassa people was in
Montserrado county and those people that settle there is the Mamba people.
They give them some negative name that they sold their land for snow fish.
There were many other Bassa group that enter Liberia after the mamba people.
The mamba speaks the mamba Bassa, Number three (3) speak the central
Bassa, River cess speak the river-cess Bassa etc.

Religion Of the Bassa People in Liberia

Christianity is the dominant Religion among the Bassa people.
The traditional religion of the Bassa people has a moral and ethical foundation,
one that reveres ancestors and supernatural spirits. Christianity arrived among
the Bassa people during the colonial era, and the first Bible was translated into
Bassa language in 1922. The adoption process fused the idea of Christian God
with their traditional idea of a Supreme Being and powerful first ancestor who
is merciful and revengeful, rewarding the good and punishing the bad. The
traditional religion has included secret rites of passage for men and women,
such as the Sande society.
Numerous missionaries from different denominations of Christianity have been
active among the Bassa people during the 20th century. These has led to many
Bassa independent churches from Europe, North America, Africa and
Evangelical movements. In contemporary times, the Bassa people
predominantly practice Christianity, but they have retained elements of their
traditional religion.

Ealy Bassa Education

They had a good education program, the only problem is: they change the
name to zoe, which means ‘’Secret Society’’. It was a bush school and, in that
bush, school is, The Sande and Poro societies.
They play a major social role in the local community life of many villages. They
teach young men and women the domestic skills and knowledge they will need
as married adults.
Poro is the secret society for men, responsible for initiating boys into
manhood, while its counterpart, Sande, initiates girls into womanhood. They
are “secret” in the sense that members of each society have certain knowledge
that can only be shared with other initiates. The Sande society initiates girls
into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation. It is said by its
supporters to confer fertility, to instill notions of morality and proper sexual
comportment, and to maintain an interest in the well-being of its members
throughout their lives.
In addition, Sande champions women's social and political interests and
promotes their solidarity vis-a-vis the Poro, a complementary institution for
men. The Sande society masquerade is a rare and perhaps unique African
example. Controlled exclusively by women – a feature that highlights the
extraordinary social position of women in this geographical region.

Initiation and transformation

Adolescent girls are initiated as a group during the post-harvest dry season in a
specially cleared area of forest surrounding the town or village. The initiation
period varies from several weeks to several months, depending upon such
factors as the initiate's age, lineage membership, school attendance, and
ethnicity.
In the past, the girls are said to have remained in the forest, called the bondo
or bush period, for upwards of one year, during which time they made rice
farms for the Sande leadership. Nowadays, the initiation period lasts around 3–
4 weeks. In addition to the initiate's labor, Sande leaders receive a substantial
initiation fee from the girl's father or her prospective husband, as a girl may not
marry before initiation.

The details of what transpires in the bush are kept secret, but it is known that
the clitoris and part of the labia are excised. It is a highly respected female
elder who usually performs this surgery. She is reputed “to have a good hand”
and good social influence to welcome girls to the bush.

Sande membership and initiation practices are promoted by zoes, who are
typically elderly women who lead the Sande bush.

Traditional Marriage of the Bassa people

The traditional marriage among the Bassa people before the modern days
come. if a Bassa man or Bassa parents have a child who’s or before getting
matured, the parent will already would have dated a little child from another
village. the man who supposes to get marriage, he’s not the one to fine his
own wife. The people have the believe that, when parent go around in villages
and approach family who are hardworking, responsible, wisdom and so on; the
daughter of that family would follow their parent foot-step. Because of that,
they will start dating the little child and giving the parent some money and
things so that, when the child grows up to marriage their son. In fact, they
sometime choose the pregnancy while the child is still in the belly. when the
child has grown up and mature for then to get marriage, the both parents
come together and they have to take about five (5) steps in the marriage.
Frist, they will take three steps in the marriage and they are as follow:
At first, it was twenty-five cent (5) and they would put their hand on the girl
shoulder on behave of the man. At that moment, the boy would have nothing
to say. He only sits and watch the process.
They would take five (5) dollar and put their hand on the shoulder of the girl so
that no other man will put his hand on her shoulder anymore. Take another
five (5) dollar and close the door so that no other man will enter the girl room
without the permission of the young man. After that, the parent of the young
man will have to pay the damage of the girl.
If the girl was a virgin before the young man slept with her, they will have to
pay fourth-eight dollars (48) but this time is double. but, when the girl is not a
virgin, the money is forty (40) dollars, before the dairy money is completely
different. All these amounts have double because our money is not valuable
anymore. Ten (10) cent is the wedding rang and it’s kept by the both parents.
They will have to exchange that ten cent because the way they established the
marriage, there is no room for devoice but if any of them end up with devoice,
they will have to return that ten cents. But if he doesn’t return that ten cents,
the girl is still the wife of that young man.
In the case an elderly man whose marriage to more than one wife is to get
marriage to a girl as their second or third wife. the Bassa people believe in
polygamy. In the Bassa tradition, a man can get marriage to many wives of his
desire.
How do Bassa People give name to their children?
They give name to their children according to the day the child was born and
also base on an event.

Games and Sport of the Bassa People

In the Bassa culture they have many games that’s no longer Practice and they
are:
Kpakpa, Siabala, Clay and Raylon with several other game.

Food of the Bassa people

The Bassa people are traditionally settled farmers who grow yam, cassava,
eddoes and plantain. They are a lineage-linked independent clans who live in
villages, each with a chief.