Festival of Divinatory Arts in Mali

Meeting with its director - Founder Madjou YATTARA

Siby is a small Malian town located at the foot of the mountains 45 km from Bamako and which hosts each year a unique event in Africa, a festival of divinatory arts, traditional medicine and sacred music. Psychics, astrologers and natural therapists from West Africa meet at each edition of FESCAURI, a contraction between festival and cowrie shells, these shells that are found almost everywhere in Africa.

INAD: - What is your idea of ​​organizing this event?  FESCAURI is an international festival, initiated in 2007 by Madjou Yattara, director of the Festival, for the conservation and perpetuation of an ancestral object “the cowrie”. I chose the cowrie shell given its cultural richness and its importance in Africa. This symbolic object served as currency in Mali. It is also used in traditional medicine. It was necessary to organize an event around this material object of civilization which is the cowrie, in order to promote it and preserve it so that it does not disappear. Given the number of clairvoyants in Mali and the fact that everyone consults in one way or another. Our parents, grandparents, ancestors consulted. Marriage, farm work, travel, building a new house, work, money, happiness, etc. we consult for a better future or make a daily diagnosis. We do not start anything important in Mali without consultation.

INAD – With hindsight, what observation do you make of this event and its echo among the population? There is no doubt that this is a real success! More than 15,000 people participate in the festival over 3 days. They come from West Africa and also from Europe. Many people are waiting for the festival to come and discover new talents and consult new clairvoyants. It should be noted that in our regions, we are always looking for quality, authenticity, the strongest and the most talented, the one who is able to solve our problems…in the blink of an eye.

• Are your professionals selected to participate in your festival and if so, by whom?  There are specifications and an ethical charter at FESCAURI level for all participants. And, to participate, you must respect the specifications and respect the ethical rules imposed on participating professionals. In addition, the selection is made by a commission which is in charge of the selection of clairvoyants and traditional therapists at FESCAURI. It is this commission which manages the Cauri village which welcomes traditional practitioners.

• How will this event be received by the local population? The populations recognize themselves in this festival, we were able to have the support of the entire population despite religious and cultural differences. In addition, Siby is like a laboratory of traditional medicine, because it is the only locality where plants are protected. Until now, certain ancestral practices exist in Siby. b

It is also an opportunity for the local population who also discover clairvoyants, marabouts, healers, traditional therapists, etc., coming from other localities and a chance for small traders who take advantage of this event to sell chickens, eggs, gunpowder, honey, various roots to carry out certain ceremonies, etc.

• Is the practice regulated or anyone can declare themselves a clairvoyant,clairvoyant or marabout, healer…? At the level of the festival, there are specifications which are submitted to all professional participants ‘‘clairvoyants, marabouts, healers, sorcerers…’, who must fulfill or satisfy all the conditions to be admitted to the festival. Which means that the selection is a bit harsh and not just anyone can claim to participate in the festival, without having proven their skills, because the reputation of the festival is at stake. We also demand discretion and absolute professional secrecy from participants.

• These selected practitioners are therefore all equipped with knowledge in the divinatory arts but also in the knowledge and use of plants? there are a lot of charlatans?  Absolutely. The professionals at FESCAURI have gifts and knowledge. There are no or few charlatans at the festival, because the commission will quickly discover it and the imposter(s) are immediately expelled. Before the opening of the festival, we carry out an in-depth investigation and “anonymous inspection visits” to practitioners to ensure their seriousness.

• Are there many complaints? The complaints so far no, not within our festival

• Can you tell us about authentic and usurping healers? All healers who participate in FESCAURI are recognized. They have gifts or have inherited them from their parents (father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, etc.) These healers had to prove themselves, that is to say, they had to cure cases of illness or “social cases” that the entire village or community recognized. There are usurpers but in general they are discovered and banned from the profession. Word of mouth does the rest.

• In what area are these people effective or more or less clever charlatans?  It should be noted that clairvoyants and traditional therapists are of several orders and each specialized in their field, there are fetishists, cowrie throwers, marabouts (who use the Koran). It’s up to you to decide who you want to do your consultation with. Because of their reputation, many patients follow them to the festival where they are more accessible and available.

• The majority of clients who consult occult science professionals are women, men? What is the most requested area: health, love, money, work?) In Mali, as in other West African countries, clairvoyants are often consulted by families. Love, employment, health, most consultations revolve around daily life events. Throughout the African continent, you should know that belief in divinatory arts, witchcraft and fetishism, among others, is a true religion.

…'’When you come to consult for work, you discover concerns about love, health, money, wickedness, hatred, etc. This is where we see the talent, the knowledge or the gift of the clairvoyant because he speaks to you about things that you have not mentioned before. In Africa, everyone consults without exception. I think it’s like pretty much everywhere in the world, right?

• Politicians, according to our information, call on sorcerers and other marabouts, wear gris-gris to protect themselves against bad luck and/or the evil eye. Is this “heard of” or is it reality? Wear gris-gris, why not. But we cannot say it, however, the politicians protect themselves as is commonly said in our country, they wash themselves, like any other individual, with the roots prepared for this purpose, and must make offerings, these are the rules of occult or spiritual protections… Generally speaking, everyone consults in Mali, everyone believes.

To finish, just a word: Of course, there is no shortage of bad apples and charlatans in Africa, they are legion, but we have endeavored to protect customers and inform them as the INAD does so well in France.

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