What does the Sowei mask mean?
The sowei mask is a “helmet mask” that is worn over the head and the rest of the dancer’s body is hidden by blackened raffia fibers and cloth. Since the mask serves as the visual connection to the spiritual world, the officials’ faces and bodies are not visible, and thus conceal any human attributes.
Why is there a hat on top of the Sowei mask in the collection of the British Museum?
The mask is thought to represent conceptions of idealised womanhood. This example is particularly unusual as the mask is wearing a top-hat; European top hats became a symbols of prestige among elites in the late 19th century Sierra Leone.
What is Bundu mask?
Bundu masks, created in the 19th and 20th centuries in Sierra Leone, were crafted by men but worn by women during initiation masquerades. These masks represent the importance of women in Mende society, as well as the emphasis on adhering to the ideal of a young Mende woman.
What is the function of the Sande society?
The Sande society initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation. It is said by its supporters to confer fertility, to instill notions of morality and proper sexual comportment, and to maintain an interest in the well-being of its members throughout their lives.
Who is SOWO?
sacred mask of the spirit Sowo is an iconographic depiction of the association of women and water spirits and attests to the creative power of both. (Masks are an important part of ritual in many African religions; they often represent ancestors, culture heroes, gods, and cosmic dynamics or the cosmic…
Who wore Bundu masks?
Sande Society, Mende peoples (West African forests of Sierra Leone and Liberia). 19th to 20th century C.E. Wood, cloth, and fiber.
Where is the Baule mask from?
Côte D’ivoire
The Baule are part of the Akan people of Côte D’ivoire, also famous for the Goli mask. Baule masks have been exhibited in the west since as early as the first decade of the 20th century. SImilar masks inspired the modernist art movement.
What do the neck rings on the Bundu mask symbolize?
The concentric rings around the neck of the mask, for instance, represent ripples of water, alluding to the rise of the female spirit out of the watery realm that is its dwelling place. At the same time, these can be interpreted as rings of fat, signs of fertility and maturity.
When was the Bundu mask created?
Helmet Mask (Bundu) 19th–20th century.
Who created the Baule mask?
The Baule were a tribe that originated in the present day Ivory Coast area in Africa many years ago. The Baule assimilated a number of their neighbors’ masquerade forms: a naturalistic face mask, a horned helmet mask, and a flat circular mask called kple kple.
Who wore the Baule mask?
Akan people
Baule Tribal Territory They are part of the Akan people, one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, who dwell in both Ghana and the Ivory Coast.