Kissi people live in Guinea (420,000), Liberia (176,000) and Sierra Leone (125,000), speak a Niger–Congo language, and are well known for making baskets and weaving on vertical looms, although are primarily farmers. In past times they were also famous for their iron working skills, the Kissi smiths producing the famous Kissi penny, an iron money widely used in West and even Central Africa. They live in small, self-governing villages that are tucked inside groves of mango or kola trees. Each village is compact, containing no more than about 150 people. Although they have converted to Christianity, most of them continue to practice their traditional ethnic religion. Ancestor worship or praying to deceased relatives is a common practice among the Kissi.
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