All metal objects forged with this tool emerge as a second generation of offspring, embodying mythic events, characters, and ideas.

The first ancestral blacksmith in Dogon mythology (Mali, West Africa) brought with him to earth a piece of the sun in the form of incandescent iron, along with the tools and knowledge necessary to forge it.

Iron Staff with Female Figure in a wreath of bells
Bamana - Mali

Life Force at the Anvil
The Blacksmith's Art from Africa

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