Africa abounds in initiation societies devoted to sustaining the community, gathered around a shared philosophy. The Mande world brings together many peoples animated by a common belief in a transcendent divine entity, Maa Ngala. To gain knowledge of this supreme being, the human being endowed with the breath of life must come to understand the world around him by reaching the light of knowledge. This source completes his initiation by informing him about the nature of his being and his environment. This initiatory path extends from birth until the physical disappearance of the human being.

The endemic Mandinka belief supports the emergence of the spirit in a spiritual world, subject to the fusion of the body with the supreme divinity, Maa Ngala. These paradigms are shared by a cultural ensemble, the Mandinka, represented by the Malinke, the Bambara, the Soninke… According to these peoples, existence is divided into distinct stages embodied by 6 singular initiation societies: the N’tomo, the Komo, the Nama, the Kono, the Tyiwara and the Korè.

The N’tomo is the primordial initiation society, symbolised by the “N’tomo kun”, a recreational and educational mask gathering a community of young uncircumcised boys.

This school was once widespread across a space that fluctuated through history and corresponded to a large part of Mali, north-eastern Guinea and northern Côte d’Ivoire, a territory in which a common art of living was shared: the bamanaya. It had been shaped over nearly two millennia by the contacts between the political entities of West Africa.

These Mandinka-speaking populations, subjects of the Ghana empire (3^rd-12^th century) and then of the Mali empire in the 13^th century, built a philosophical culture of study and analysis of the elements that underlie the world, as well as a whole set of ritual practices carried out daily in a quest for happiness.

The N’tomo, the first initiation society of this school of life, is organised around a motto: “Hold your mouth”.

This stage of initiation is embodied, materialised, by this branched mask fitted with a small mouth marking the sign of controlled speech.

The N’tomo kun celebrates childhood, that stage when the innocent young child learns that the use of speech and its impact on his existence can be considerable.

To educate oneself is “to make one’s mouth heavy” (k’i da giriya), a wisdom whose reach runs through the whole N’tomo period. The ordeal of flogging reflects this scrupulous commitment which, despite the pain, asserts the determination to master body and mind.

The N’tomo trained uncircumcised boys between 6 and 13 years old. The children enrolled in the initiation society remain in it until the age of circumcision, which symbolises their entry into the adult world. The N’tomo lets children follow a teaching on the origin of man and his place in this existence.

This teaching is divided into several phases:

• the level of the toad embodies the subject of life and death;
• the level of the bird is a teaching on everything subjective, related to human thought;
• the level of the hen introduces the relations between humans and the cosmos;
• the level of the dog illustrates the concept of domestication, appealing to the social aspect of man.

N’tomo means “jujube tree” in Bambara. The term designates the tree on which the sacrifices of the initiation society were offered. N’tomadyiri – literally the tree of the N’tomo – is the ancestor of blacksmiths and the creator of this society. He is also considered “the inventor of the spirit of man”. According to the oral sources collected by Dominique Zahan, N’tomadyiri was the first to sketch out the mask and consolidate the rules of teaching.

The N’tomo is built around self-knowledge, a necessary element for facing the trials of existence. This speech, whose spiritual charge is considerable, is of paramount importance in understanding Mande communities.

Knowing how to hold one’s mouth and use it wisely is a matter of self-knowledge and a decisive characteristic in the expression of man. This initiation society ends after numerous trials and teachings that prepare the young uncircumcised boy for the adult world.

During the N’tomo phase, which lasts about 7 years, the young boys are assigned many tasks, such as helping their elders in farming. In addition, a young girl of the same age group is assigned to them so that they can protect her and provide her with some services.