The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a secret society of Sierra Leone. Only males are admitted to its ranks, but two other affiliated and secret associations exist, the Yassi and the Bundu, the first of which is nominally reserved for females, but members of the Poro are admitted to certain ceremonies. All the female members of the Yassi must be also members of the Bundu, which is strictly reserved to women. A secret society is a social organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation or club ceremonies—from outsiders. ... Yass is a town in New South Wales, Australia. ...

Of the three, the Poro is by far the most important. The entire native population is governed by its code of laws. It primarily represents a type of freemasonry, a friendly society to which even infants are temporarily admitted, the ceremony in their case consisting merely of carrying them into the Poro bush and out again. But this side of the Poro is merged in its larger objects as represented by its two great aspects, the religious and the civil. Under the former, boys join it at puberty, while under the latter it is practically the native governing body, making laws, deciding on war and peace, &c. the Square and Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ...

The Poro has its special ritual and language, tattooing and symbols, but details are unknown, as the oath of secrecy is always kept. It meets usually in the dry season, between the months of October and May. The rendezvous is in the bush, an enclosure, separated into apartments by mats and roofed only by the overhanging trees, serving as a club-house. There are three grades, the first for chiefs and big men, the second for fetish-priests and the third for the crowd. The ceremonies of the Purrah are presided over by the Poro devil, a man in fetish dress, who addresses the meeting through a long tube of wood. This article is about the tattoo, a design in ink or some other pigment, usually decorative or symbolic, placed permanently under the skin. ...

The Poro can place its taboo on anything or anybody; and as no native would venture to defy its order, much trouble has been caused where the taboo has been laid upon crops. In 1897 the British or local government was compelled to pass a special ordinance absolutely forbidding the imposition of the taboo on all indigenous products. Of the affiliated societies the Yassi appears to some extent to be an association for providing men and women, who believe themselves ill through fetish, with medical treatment, on payment of certain fees. The womens Bundu is in many ways a replica of the mens Poro, though without political power. A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. ...

See T. J. Alldridge, The Sherbro and its Hinterland (1901).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...