Lobi people
Miiwo is widely spoken in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire while a majority of Lobis in Ghana speak Birifor.
Traditions vary among the groups, but some share a common sense of identity through participation in an initiation ceremony called joro (or dyoro, which takes place every seven years.
Many Lobi houses also share an architectural style, which consists of an earthen compound with walls made from horizontal courses.
Most are single-story, and rarely include more than a few small, strategically placed holes to allow light in and to allow inhabitants to view the exterior surrounds.
Largely through the use of village and personal shrines, they also share animist beliefs in order to maintain a productive relationship with the spiritual world.
They achieve this specifically through regular interaction with spirits called thila, which inhabit a wide range of natural areas and man-made objects, such as bateba, or anthropomorphic shrine figures that are now also well recognized in the art world.
The Lobi crossed the Mounhoun centuries ago from east to west and settled in the lands and brought with them deep animist beliefs and superstition.
Victims of slave raids, rival clans and civil disputes, they are among the fiercest and proudest inhabitants of Burkina Faso and were constantly under attack from the Gwiriko and Kenedougou empires during the 19th century.
Bakary Ouattara, brother of the founder of the Guiriko empire led an offensive against the Lobi in 1815, and despite setting fire to several villages he was eventually killed by a poisoned arrow.
He was succeeded by Karakara who continued with the raids leading up to the devastating attack in 1850 where they suffered heavily and lost a great deal but were never completely defeated.
The Lobi are well documented for their animist beliefs, which involves regular interaction with ancestral and other types of spirits such as thila and kontuoursi.
Lobi peoples have no direct contact with Him, but are dependent on nature spirits known as thila, invisible intermediaries that can harness their supernatural powers towards good or evil.
[citation needed] At many houses, there is a ladder made from a large, Y-shaped tree trunk with notched steps, which lead up to the roof where inhabitants may access an interior granary and their own rooms below.
Large earthenware jars used to hold water or other personal belongings are often stacked up against the kitchen walls and are a testament to the owner's economic status.
At the same time, collectors, enthusiasts, ethnologists and art historians in Europe and the USA began to look at objects from this culture in their collections.
