Feast Ladle (Wunkermian)

Hospitality is an important virtue in African societies. Among the Dan, the woman with the greatest reputation for hospitality is known as a wunkirle. On public occasions, she carries as a staff of office a spoon known as a wunkirmian. The large bowl of the spoon suggests the ample quantities of rice she has given away. The ram's head commonly denotes power among the Dan, but it may also refer to the use of rams as sacrifices at the feasts over which a wunkirle presides.