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A figure covered head to toe in red fibres walks along a sand track; a boy in a red jersey watches.

In Diaobé, the Kankurang still walks

Every hivernage — the West African rainy season — a figure clothed in the red fibre of the faara tree comes out into the Manding villages of Senegal and Gambia, in the season of the circumcisions. UNESCO has listed the rite since 2008 — and warned, in the same breath, that it is wearing thin. On 18 September, in Diaobé, the whole neighbourhood came out to meet him.

20 September 2026 · 5 min read