Many pendants from West Africa incorporate an animal as a decorative element. The snake, for example, is present in all Gan pendants of Burkina Faso. Protectors of the family and cultures, snakes are ambivalent, representing both the day, the light, the good, the transparency, but also symbolizing the forces of darkness, evil and witchcraft. The number of heads assigned to each object is proportional to the extent of its power, each head representing a particular field of that power.