August, 2000

If you thought applying make-up, jewelry and hair-dressing were the idle pastimes of women, shame on you. Having read Jolique this long, you should know better. Well-known for their physical beauty, the men of the Wodaabe (also called Bororo), a nomadic people that roams regions of Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, take great pride in their boodal, or physical beauty:

"'...[I]t makes women want us," says one. "We are born beautiful. But we also have the power of maagani—the knowledge and secret potions—to enhance that beauty." (Beckwith, 488)

Boodal plays a prominent role in marriage selection with the Wodaabe. And the Geerewol, a week-long annual festival that celebrates the end of the dry season, is where love and marriage blossom. Two highly competitive dances dominate the festivities—the yaake and the geerewol. In each of these dances, however, it is the men, not the women, who preen and parade for affection. The yaake is an intense competition in which only the most charming wins. "Charm" is defined by the number and intensity of facial expressions a competitor can generate. The grimaces, grins and gruesome expressions of the competitors are enhanced by drinking a concoction of pulverized bark. (Fisher, 148) Crossed eyes, skewed lips, puffed cheeks, and raised eyebrows all play a role in this fascinating dance of facial contortion.

In preparation, the men spend hours applying make-up to highlight their silly-scary facial gestures. A pale yellow powder applied to the entire face offers a beautiful and striking contrast to a man's otherwise dark skin. Kohl drawn around the eyes and lips draws attention to their white, gnashing teeth and rolling eyes during the dance. A painted white line, which starts at the forehead and ends at the chin, serves to elongate the nose.

At a second dance called the geerewol (for which the festival is named), the men are judged purely on their physical beauty. For this dance, they shave their foreheads, paint their faces with red ochre (iron oxide), dress their hair with ostrich feathers and cowrie shells, and decorate their chests with criss-cross patterns of white beads. They parade and dance for hours amongst the female judges, who make subtle mental notes about their beauty. A "winner" receives a gentle nudge or wink from a judge, who may later become his wife. Losers are criticized and mocked by judges for failing to live up to the stringent boodal criteria.

The Wodaabe are part of a larger ethnic group known as the Fulani. The Fulani are believed to have originated from somewhere in Ethiopia, or the Upper Nile region. (Ancient art from these regions depicts individuals with features similar to the modern Fulani.) Also known as the Fulbe, Fula or Felaata, the Fulani now inhabit West Africa's savannas. The Fulani, who number about six million, are now mostly sedentary; the Wodaabe, however, have distinguished themselves by remaining nomadic. Like many aborigines in Africa, the Wodaabe abandoned the cities of North Africa when British colonialists and local Muslims began to wield their influence in the 19th century.

Considerably smaller (about 45,000 in 1983) than the rest of the Fulani population, the Wodaabe are cattle herders. They have great affection for their animals and know each by name. Zebu milk is the mainstay of the Wodaabe diet, and the constant search for water and food for the zebu is of utmost importance to all.

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