gifts for girls

Ornate repoussé covers the forehead and smooth cheeks of an adolescent girl, beautifully depicted in a sese wood mask. Perched on the head, a bird reaches a slender beak to caress the girl's nose. Designed by Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo, it is named Onuma, Akan for "Bird." A gift presented to Akan women in eastern Ghana during a girl's puberty rites, it affirms the suitor's commitment during courtship. "Apart from its decorative purposes, this piece gives the possessor an assurance of a blissful courtship leading to marriage," the artisan affirms.

With a face like the full moon, this beautiful mask depicts an Akuaba, an Akan word for the child of Akua, a girl born on Wednesday. The term also signifies a doll. Walter Kuma carves the symmetrical features, bright eyes and full lips. "I want people to believe in whatever they do and hope for success in the future," he says.

The mask is displayed on an iron stand.

This splendid jewelry box recognizes the omnipresence of god through gye nyame, the Adinkra symbol on the lid that means, "I am afraid of none except God." Deeply symbolic, Madam Adwoa has calls the box Effia, the name given to a baby girl born on a Friday. Madam Adwoa and the artisans at her workshop, Onyame Akwan Dooso, carve the sika adaka (jewelry box) from sese wood with hand-made tools. Once the desired shape has been achieved, it is delicately carved with traditional patterns and protected with mansion polish.

Clad in a dress that hugs her graceful figure, a young woman wears her hair in an elaborate up-do. Daniel Nyadedzor carves a doll seen mostly among Ghana's Akan people, where a young man makes it a gift to the girl he hopes to marry.

Her features are elegant and serene, her hairdo ornate. This mask is worn during rituals in Sierra Leone. Bundu, sometimes known as Sande, is the name of the powerful female society of the Mende people, one of the two largest ethnic groups in modern day Sierra Leone. In preparation for marriage and motherhood, young girls starting puberty were separated from their families and brought to a compound to be taught the manners and customs they would need as adults. The Bundu mask was to be worn by an adult woman who taught them. Sinclair Yao Daley skillfully sculpts this exquisite mask from sese wood and finishes its sleek surface with natural cola nut dye.

Ghanaian artisan Abdul Aziz Mohamadu creates this stunning mask using local rubberwood. He carves the wood by hand into his own design, before painting and polishing it over the course of two to three weeks. Stunning textured brass repoussé metalwork adorns the cheeks and forehead of the elongated face. Intricate copper wire work accentuates the brows, the nose, and the area around the nose and mouth of the mask. The artisan names the bold wall decor zodwa, which is a Zulu word that translates to "only girls."

A colorful diamond motif adorns her forehead and embossed aluminum appears on her skirt. By Rita Addo Zakour, this sculpture depicts an Ashanti fertility doll. In West African society women place great importance on childbearing, and a married woman without children is sometimes shunned. Parents give such a doll to the newly married daughter, as its presence in the house is believed to have special powers. When worn by young married girls in a carrying cloth on the back, these dolls are reputed to ensure they will have children. The artisan names this doll Dzigbordi, which means "patience" in the Ewe language.