In Focus

Shango priests store the deity's thunderbolts (Neolithic celts or axe heads), kola nuts, food offerings, oshe Shango (dance wands used to honor the deity), and other ritual paraphernalia in a calabash bowl that is placed on an upturned mortar.

Bobo boys and young men were not considered adult until they had been initiated into the worship of Dwo, the Creator God's representative, and learned the secret of masking. They learned about the relationship between Dwo and the Nwenka and other masks that appear on the occasions of harvest rites, male initiation rituals, and funerals. Nwenka embodies the spirit of Dwo and ultimately Wuro's spirit. 

In 1973 Cecil and Ida Green gave the Dallas Museum of Art a major ancient sculpture, the Roman "Figure of a woman" (1973.11). This followed the couple's 1966 gift of the Classical Greek "Figure of a young man" (1996.26), one of the Museum's great treasures. Since Mr. and Mrs. Green were a devoted couple, the Museum staff fondly called the two sculptures "Ida" and "Cecil."