TITLE: Kuba Lele Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Congo, Dem. Rep. of
SUBREGION: Kasai River
ETHNICITY: Lele (Kuba)
DESCRIPTION: Helmet Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD005
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Celebration; Funeral; Secret Society; Status
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: cotton cloth; cowrie shells; beads

The Lele people are a subgroup of the Kuba ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of Congo, inhabiting the Kasai River basin. They dance masked on many occasions, including festivals celebrating the mythical founding of the people and funerals of important individuals.  Lele masks have affinities with those of the Kuba people more generally, but they have a distinctive flattened face.  Cowrie shells and glass beads were valuable trade goods and their use denotes wealth and status.

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TITLE: Bamana N’tomo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Mali
ETHNICITY: Bamana (Bambara)
DESCRIPTION: Painted N’tomo Society Mask
CATALOG ID: AFML002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Secret Society; Social Control; Status
AGE: Late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; hardware repair

The Bamana people, sometimes called Bambara, are one of the largest ethnic groups in Mali. They have six major secret societies of different levels of prestige that conduct adult initiation rituals. Initiates are taught survival skills, social customs, and religious principles. The N’tomo Society originally comprised only uncircumcised boys and teaches the virtues of silence and discipline. For this reason, the N’tomo Society masks tend to have small, closed mouths.

Many Bamana masks also have brass plating, unlike this one.  Blacksmithing and metallurgy play an important role in the N’tomo Society, so a brass covering greatly increases the status of a mask. However, the Bamana people, like many African peoples, are also fond of bright colors and use paint to increase the appeal of their masks.

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TITLE: Kuba Mukenga Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Congo, Dem. Rep. of
SUBREGION: Western Kasai
ETHNICITY: Kuba
DESCRIPTION: Mukenga helmet mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Funeral; Secret Society; Status
AGE: ca. 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: wood; glass beads; cowrie shells; leopard fur; thread; plant fiber; metal plating

The Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of Congo have several masks associated with royalty. The mukenga mask is associated with the highest status of the Babende initiation society through its invocation of the most powerful forest animals, the leopard and the elephant (note its trunk-like crest). Cowrie shells and glass beads were valuable trade goods and their use denotes wealth and status.

Mukenga masks are danced at funerals of titled nobility by members of the mukenga society. Because the mukenga masquerader has no vision (the helmet mask has no eye holes), attendants assist him to remain within the dance area. The mukenga dancer represents an important person visiting the village to pay respects to the deceased.

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TITLE: Yoruba Gelede Mask
TYPE: crest mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Yoruba
DESCRIPTION: Gelede Mask with Family Sculptures
CATALOG ID: AFNG012
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Gelede Society
AGE: early 2000s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The highly populous Yoruba people inhabit much of Nigeria and parts of Benin. The Gelede Society originates in cultural myths about Yemoja, the mother of all living things, who could not conceive children until she learned a dance with a wooden image on her head. The Gelede is named after Yemoja’s chubby daughter, and the dance therefore has a close connection with fertility rites. Nonetheless, the Gelede ceremony performs diverse functions in Yoruba society, including to pray for rain, purify the village of disease, to enlist spiritual help in wartime, and to honor the dead.

For more on the Gelede ceremony, see Babatunde Lawal’s incomparable monograph, The Gelede Spectacle (University of Washington Press, 1996).

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TITLE: Songye Kifwebe Kilume
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Democratic Republic of the Congo
ETHNICITY: Songye
DESCRIPTION: Bwadi Society Kifwebe Kilume male mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD018
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe Society
FUNCTION: Adult Initiation; Secret Society; Social Control; Social Status; War Preparation
AGE: ca. 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; animal hair

Among the Songye and Luba peoples of central Africa, the Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe Society commands high status, because its members are considered to have magical powers to invoke spirits. Among the masks used by the Kifwebe Society is the Kilume (male) mask here. Kilume masks are danced with a suit of mesh and a long mantle of raffia fiber. The masqueraders were used primarily to enforce social norms, to intimidate enemies in war, to attend male circumcisions, and at bukishi initiations teaching social and religious principles. Today, they exist primarily to preserve tradition and provide entertainment.

The dance of the male Kifwebe masquerader is erratic and energetic, reflecting the intimidating policing role played by this part of the Society.

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TITLE: Igbo Agbogho Mmuo
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Igbo
DESCRIPTION: Agbogho Mmuo (Maiden Spirit) Mask
CATALOG ID: AFNG004
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Agriculture; Funeral; Secret Society; Spirit Invocation
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; pigment

The Igbo are a numerous people inhabiting southern Nigeria. They have a rich masking tradition based on their traditional religion, Odinani, the circumcision ritual of adulthood, and initiation into secret societies. The Agbogho Mmuo, or Maiden Spirit, is a helmet mask intended to represent the spirit of a beautiful female ancestor and is danced during the dry season as part of agricultural rituals, as well as during funerals of prominent members of the masking secret society.

The mask is worn by men only, who imitate the movements of a graceful female to music played on traditional drums and other instruments. Singers also participate and pay tribute to real and past girls. The whiteness of the mask does not idealize light skin, but instead indicates the spirit nature of the girl represented. The elaborate hair style with comb decorations is intended to enhance the beauty of the mask.

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TITLE: Fang Ngil Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Equatorial Guinea
ETHNICITY: Fang
DESCRIPTION: Ngil Mask
CATALOG ID: AFGQ001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Purification; Secret Society; Social Control
AGE: late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay

The Fang people inhabit Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon and Cameroon and are divided between followers of their traditional animist  religion, byeri, and the Catholicism of their French colonizers. The Ngil Secret Society is responsible for social control by assembling in the night to punish sorcerers and purify the village of evil. The Society’s masks are made to resemble the powerful gorilla, and a full suit of raffia fiber is worn to enhance the effect of furriness.

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TITLE: Iroquois Corn Husk Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: North American
COUNTRY: Canada
SUBREGION: Québec
ETHNICITY: Iroquois (Mohawk)
DESCRIPTION: Corn Husk (Bushy Head) Mask
CATALOG ID: NACA007
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Agriculture; Healing; Secret Society; Spirit Invocation
AGE: 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: braided corn husks
OTHER MATERIALS: brass bells

The Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá-ka) belong to the Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee) and historically inhabited western New York state, as well as parts of Quebec and Ontario, before being displaced by Dutch and British settlers.  They maintain tribal lands in Ontario and Quebec today, reserved by treaty.

Most Iroquois nations, including the Mohawk, had three medicine societies, one of which was the Society of Husk Faces.  Among the important rituals of the Society are celebration of the Midwinter Festival using the “Bushy Heads” or corn husk masks. They represent earthbound spirits from the other side of the world, where the seasons are reversed (which, in fact, they are south of the Equator). The beings taught the Iroquois the skills of hunting and agriculture. They perform predominantly two dances, known as the Fish Dance and the Women’s Dance. Unlike the False Face dancers, Husk Face dancers are mute. Like the False Face dancers, they can cure the ill by blowing hot ash or sprinkling water on their patients.

The Bushy Heads can be male or female, young or old.  Either men or women may dance in the Husk Face Society, and sometimes they choose masks of the opposite gender to the amusement of the audience. This specific mask adds brass bells to symbolize the tears and runny nose of an old woman spirit.

For more on Iroquois masking traditions, see William N. Fenton, The False Faces of the Iroquois (University of Oklahoma Press, 1987).

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TITLE: Ibibio Ekpo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Eket (Ibibio)
DESCRIPTION: Ekpo Society mask
CATALOG ID: AFNG005
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Ekpo Society
AGE: 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; pigment

The Ibibio inhabit Nigeria and parts of Benin. The Eket are a subgroup of the Ibibio known for their highly cultivated artistic style. Masks are used by the Ekpo (leopard) Society to protect and purify the village through invocation of the Ekpo bush spirit. Membership in the society is limited to men, and during masked dances for the purification and protection of the village, women are not allowed to touch the dancers. Membership at higher ranks in the Society requires considerable wealth and confers high social status.

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TITLE: Winiama Leprosy Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Burkina Faso
ETHNICITY: Winiama
DESCRIPTION: Protection mask representing a leper
CATALOG ID: AFBF003
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Healing; Protection & Purification; Secret Society
AGE: ca. 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin

The Winiama people are a small ethnic group inhabiting Burkina Faso. They share with their neighboring peoples, the Nuna, a highly geometrical masking style. The Winiama believe in a supreme creator god, who can manifest as Su, a sacred mask. Through masked rituals, Su‘s power can be invoked to protect the village, promote fertility, honor the dead, or inflict harm on enemies.

Some masks, such as this one, can be worn only by the highest ranking members of a secret mask society. It would have been worn with a raffia fiber collar and full body suit. The mask is intended to protect the village from the disease of leprosy. The disease was previously thought to be caused by a curse cast by a sorcerer, or by some wrongdoing of the afflicted person.

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