The mud-dyed cloths of the Bamana, called bogolanfani, are used for a variety of purposes. The patterns are created by first dying the cotton cloth in a vegetable dye, which is then painted with a mixture of iron-rich mud. When introduced to sunlight, the chemical reaction between the vegetable dye and the mud creates the dark colors. Hunters wear protective bogolan when in the wild and young women are wrapped in them during excision rituals.

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