What is the mask in medicine?
What is the only known masquerade tradition where the mask-wearers are female?
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Who made the Bundu mask?
Sande Society, Mende peoples (West African forests of Sierra Leone and Liberia). 19th to 20th century C.E. Wood, cloth, and fiber.
When was the Bundu mask created?
Helmet Mask (Bundu) 19th–20th century.
What is unique about Bundu masks from Sierra Leone and Liberia?
The masks are finely carved to convey admired feminine features: an elaborate coiffure, a smooth, broad forehead, narrowly slit eyes, a small, composed mouth, and a sensuously ringed neck. This composition of forms and symmetry creates a serene facial expression that implies self-control.
What is Sowei mask?
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.
What is the oldest death mask?
The oldest-known European example of a death mask belongs to the face of Edward III, king of England. He reigned from 1327 until his death in 1377 [source: Gibson]. With the dawn of the Renaissance, artists began to perfect realistic portraits of their subjects.
Who wore Bundu masks?
dancing soweiCarved wooden helmet mask used by the exclusively female Sande (Mende) or Bondo/Bundu (Temne) societies. The mask is traditionally worn by a high-ranking member of the society, the dancing sowei, known as the 'ndoli jowei' among the Mende or 'a-Nowo' among the Temne.
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 part of Africa are African masks from?
Sub-Saharan AfricaRitual and ceremonial masks are an essential feature of the traditional culture of the peoples of a part of Sub-Saharan Africa, e.g. roughly between the Sahara and the Kalahari Desert.
What African tribes make masks?
Tribal masksBwa, Mossi and Nuna of Burkina Faso.Dan of Liberia and Ivory Coast.Dogon and Bamana of Mali.Fang (Punu) and Kota of Gabon.Yorubo, Nubo, Igbo and Edo of Nigeria.Senufo and Grebo, Baule (Guro) and Ligbi (Koulango) of Ivory Coast.Temne, Gola and Sande (Sowei) of Sierra Leone.Bambara of Mali.More items...
Where does the Sowei spirit come from?
Unique to the region around Sierra Leone, sowei masks are worn by senior members of the all-female Sande Society during rite-of-passage ceremonies that signify a girl's transition to adulthood. .
What are malagan masks?
Malangan masks are commonly used at funeral rites, which both bid farewell to the dead and celebrate the vibrancy of the living. The masks can represent a number of things: dead.
Who wears the Sowei mask?
Sowei mask used by the exclusively female Sande (Mende) or Bondo/Bundu (Temne) societies. The mask is traditionally worn by a high-ranking member of the society, the dancing sowei, known as the 'ndoli jowei' among the Mende or 'a-Nowo' among the Temne.
What is the oldest known Yoruba mask?
But the oldest African artifact that is definitely a mask is the highly realistic copper mask of the oni (leader) Obalufon, from the Ife kingdom of Nigeria (12th to 15th century). The eyeholes and the holes in the mask for strings of beads or raffia attachments indicate that it was worn in some ceremony.
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.
When was the first death mask made?
It is said that a new tradition of death masks started that of Lessing in 1781. It was the first to be made just to remember the deceased.
When was the Kanaga mask made?
Coptic period (3rd–7th century C.E.)
Bundu / Sowei Helmet Mask (Mende peoples) (video) | Khan Academy
Bundu or Sowei Helmet Mask (Ndoli Jowei), Mende, Nguabu Master (Moyamba district, Sierra Leone), late 19th-early 20th century, wood and pigment, 39.4 x 23.5 x 26 cm (Brooklyn Museum) Speakers: Dr. Peri Klemm and Dr. Steven Zucker Sowei refers most specifically to medicine—the kind of medicine that female healers/herbalists utilize. Embodied in this idea of medicine is a spiritual force.
Helmet Mask (Sowei) – Works – Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory ...
Label Text This mask, called Sowo (pl. Sowei) or Bondo, is a type commissioned and worn by female members of the Gola, Temne, and Mende Sande societies in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Sande society is responsible for the instruction of young girls into adulthood. This process occurs in the forest under the guidance of senior Sande members and Sowo or Bondo nature spirits.
Art: Mask (sowei) - Annenberg Learner
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What is a Bundu mask?
Bundu / Sowei Helmet Mask (Mende peoples) Sowei refers most specifically to medicine—the kind of medicine that female healers/herbalists utilize. Embodied in this idea of medicine is a spiritual force. The mask, when danced, is a visual expression of this spirit. The term also refers to the custodian of the medicine — a Sande official.
What is Sowei medicine?
Sowei refers most specifically to medicine—the kind of medicine that female healers/herbalists utilize. Embodied in this idea of medicine is a spiritual force. The mask, when danced, is a visual expression of this spirit. The term also refers to the custodian of the medicine — a Sande official.
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What is Majo reputed to have?
A Majo reputed 'to have a good hand' will attract many initiates to her Bundu bush, increasing her social influence in the process. Informants also said the surgery made women clean.". [1] Many women who survive the "surgery" will have lifelong complications.
How long does it take for a girl to become an adolescent?
The initiation period varies from several weeks to several months, depending upon such factors as the initiate's age, lineage membership, school attendance, and ethnicity.
What is Sowo's costume made of?
The full costume, made of a gown of raffia fibers (completely covering her body) and the 2-4 pound mask, represents Sowo
Why are girls called chrysalis?
Girls are also called a chrysalis while during the initiation because she is between a girl and a woman–– echoed in the shape of her neck
What are the two things that climate and geography help in?
The climate and geography both aid in the cultivation of food and resources used for artistic works (wood, rafia, fibers, etc.)
What is a very small face with small features?
A very small face with small features is central and towards the bottom of the head. A sharp point extends up from the face, possibly forming the forehead. Geometric designs surround the pointed forehead on either side. Folds extend from the face to the back of the head.
Does the mask speak?
Thought to be a spirit. Mask doesn’t actually speak, but it silently speaks to young girls about ideals through dance –– spiritual knowledge and how to be a wife. When it wasn’t being used in a ritual it was housed elsewhere where it would have been regarded as just a piece of wood.
Is a Poro society a polygamous society?
They are patrilineal and patriarchal (also polygamous) Mostly farmers and hunters. There are secret Poro societies for men and Sande societies for women (both deal with maturation and political affairs) The societies are secret, but their existence and role in the community is known.
What is the Bundu mask?
For Western civilizations, the mask must surely represent a horrific symbol of the female genital mutilation that is widely condemned for its barbaric abuse of young girls which renders many a lifetime of pain and physical complications. As such, although an object of iconic beauty, the Bundu mask may often be perceived as being emblematic of ritualized brutality, rather than a celebration of women's emancipation, as recognized by western societies.
What is the significance of the Bundu mask?
Masterfully carved and symbolic of the transition of African tribal girls into womanhood, the Bundu mask reflects the secretive nature of this important ritual within the Sande society.
Why do squiggly bears have a full forehead?
They often have full foreheads to reflect wisdom and are frequently shiny black to portray mystery. They typically manifest iconic features such as neck rings and lowered eyes.
How long did women's sande and men's poro rule the land?
The women's Sande and men's Poro associations alternate political and ritual control of "the land" (a concept embracing the natural and supernatural worlds) for periods of three and four years respectively. During Sande's sovereignty, all signs of the men's society are banished.
Why did Mae Azango get death threats?
Journalist Mae Azango received death threats from several Sande society women for reporting on Sande female circumcision practices in 2012.
How long does it take for the Sande to turn over the land?
At the end of this three-year period, the Sande leadership "turns over the land" to its counterparts in the Poro Society for another four years, and after a rest period the ritual cycle begins anew. The alternating three- and four-year initiation cycles for women and men respectively are one example of the widespread use of the numbers three and four to signify the gender of people, places and events; together the numbers equal seven, a sacred number throughout the region.
What are the Sande society's initiations?
Post-initiation education. Sande society initiates, Sierra Leone. To either side of the girls stand masked women wearing "devil masks", who are in charge of the initiation. After their wounds have healed, the girls are instructed in domestic skills, farming, sexual matters, dancing, and medicine.
What ethnic group is Sande?
Although anthropologists and art historians sometimes describe the Sande society as an all-embracing, pan-ethnic association, there is considerable cultural variation throughout the region. The ethnic groups where the Sande Society is present speak languages belonging to three language families ( Mande, Mel and Kru ). They may be animists, or like the Mende, Vai and Yalunka, they may have significant Muslim populations.
What is a sande masquerade?
The Sande society masquerade is a rare and perhaps unique African example of a wooden face mask controlled exclusively by women – a feature that highlights the extraordinary social position of women in this geographical region.
How long did the Sande girls stay in the forest?
In the past, the girls are said to have remained in the forest for upwards of one year, during which time they made rice farms for the Sande leadership. In addition to the initiate's labor, Sande leaders receive a substantial initiation fee from the girl's father or her prospective husband, as a girl may not marry before initiation.
What is the mask in medicine?
Embodied in this idea of medicine is a spiritual force. The mask, when danced, is a visual expression of this spirit. The term also refers to the custodian of the medicine — a Sande official.
What is the only known masquerade tradition where the mask-wearers are female?
The Mende initiation rite for young women is the only known masquerade tradition where the mask-wearers are female.
