Bantering Families

One of the reasons Malians get along so well is that humor is a huge part of everyday interactions.  Ask anyone who's been to Mali and they will tell you it's not out of place if, after striking up a conversation, someone makes a joke about someone's weight, or status, or even calls them their slave!  Just no jokes about the Mom, or God. Not cool. 
This all dates back to the good ol' days of the Malian empire, which has existed for centuries.  In the past, there existed a pretty well established caste system with a nobility, a nyamakala, and a slave caste.  Nyamakala translates literally into "spirit holders," but it includes all of the merchants and blacksmiths, woodworkers, etc.  The griots, or keepers of the oral history, also existed in this class but they are a bit of a cut above the others.  They are the liaisons to the nobility.  Whenever a noble when out in public, he would not converse with the middle caste, but instead would tell his griot what to say and they would say it for him.  Noble families descended almost entirely from one family, but were given names as their griots described their triumphs or details of their folklore.  Thus one noble family was named "Coulibaly," which literally means crossed the river without a canoe, or on the back of a fish, depending who's translating.  The big noble families are Konate, Coulibaly, Keita, Jarasuba, and Magasuba.  The original griot families were Kouyate, sumano, Duguno, and Jabate. 
As oral history accumulated, and families were known more and more for distinctive traits (and as colonists came in and broke up a bit of the stricter caste social rules), families would joke to each other about their respective traits.  Thus, even though Coulibaly is a noble name, someone like Sekou Kamara can joke about how we eat beans and like to fart a lot (surprisingly accurate, at least for the Tubabu population).  These humorous daily interactions are what keep families from fighting and lead to beautiful relationships between families and even ethnic groups.  You can't really understand this relationship until someone on the bus calls you fat and you have every right to call them fat back.  After a big laugh and a larger hug, you're automatically friends!  Though I wouldn't recommend on this Green Line...