African Ceremonies

New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. First Edition. 2 volumes. Large 4to. 14-1/16 x 10-3/8". Black cloth stamped in gold with color pictorial cover plates. In slipcase with pictorial plates on front and back. Both books and slipcase are in as new condition.. In 1991, while crossing the Sahelian Steppe of Niger on camelback with our Wodaabe nomad friend Mokao, we found ourselves describing to him our desire to create a book of photographs covering the sacred ceremonies that we had witnessed in Africa. This book, we told him, would record those rituals that gave African life its special meaning. Never having seen a book, Mokao reflected on our words for a long time. He responded with unexpected understanding. The word he used to describe our dream were maagani yegitata - "medicine not to forget."

After ten years of field work, our dream has become a reality in African Ceremonies. With deep appreciation we present maagani yegitata to Mokao, to Africa , and to the rest of the world.

We first met in 1978, as two fledgling photographers at a Maasai warrior ceremony in East Africa. Each of us was working ona first book, and we recognized in one another two kindred spirits with a deep love for and fascination with Africa. We quickly agreed to pool resources and traveled together to the Sahel of West Africa to follow the seasonal migration of Wodaabe nomads.

After completing our own books - Angela's Africa Adorned and Carol's Maasai and Nomads of Niger - we began to make plans together to record the peoples and cultures of the ancient Horn of Africa. The result was our book African Ark, which quickly became a testament to a vanishing world as famine took hold of Ethiopia and civil war raged in Somalia.

The experience of working together on African Ark fueled our desire to create a book that would be a visual exploration of the meaning and power of traditional rituals and ceremonies in Africa before they disappeared forever. We took a year out to raise funds and gather the twenty-seven individuals and three foundations that offered the sustained support that has made it possible for us to realize our dream. Little did we know the extent of our undertaking. Originally, we planned for four years of fieldwork and one year of production. It has taken us nearly a decade to produce our coverage of 43 ceremonies in 26 countries.