The first wife enjoys a superior status and dominates the other wives. Each wife has her own house where she raises her children. Although most Bambara live in rural areas, some have flourished under the modernization brought by the French. These Bambara have moved into the major cities where they have become influential in commercial and transport industries. They believe in a supreme creator god as well as in gods of the air and water.
Ancestor worship is central to their ethnic religion.
Special rites are performed to worship them. The eldest male of a lineage serves as mediator between the living and the dead. Because of his age, he is considered nearest to the world of the departed. The dead are believed to be appeased with offerings of millet flour and water. The drought in the 1980's caused many problems for the Bambara, resulting in a severe shortage of food and great loss of livestock.