This monumental figure of a nursing mother was part of a shrine that honored the founding ancestors of the Urhobo people. Housed in small buildings, groups of statues forming families of ancestor spirits safeguarded the well-being of the community. These wooden statues, called edjo re akare, \"spirits in carved form,\" are meant to be fearsome to the living but beautiful to the dead. The color red refers to life in this world and is a symbol of fertility, mystery, and danger. In coming-of-age ceremonies, brides, their mothers, and their attendants are rubbed with red pigment from the camwood tree.
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