What is the purpose of the African Festima mask?
Made of leaves, straw, wood and textile, the masks symbolise the worship of ancestors and spirits. They play an important role during commemorations of rites and the cycle of life.
What is a Bobo mask?
Helmet Mask (Bolo) 19th–20th century. Bobo peoples. This genre of helmet mask, known as bolo (pl. bole), is worn by blacksmiths at important agricultural celebrations, initiation rites, and funerals in Bobo communities.
What region of Burkina Faso uses wooden masks?
In the most southern area called Kademba, near the gurunsi, inhabited by the “scarred-Bwa” or nyaynegay, people use the wooden masks for which the Bwa are famous. Wooden masks represent characters in family myths and have nothing to do with Do. Leaf Masks: Burkina Faso; Bwa artist.
What tribe is the Bwa mask from?
The Bwa is an African society that is native to Burkina Faso.
Are African masks still used today?
African animal masks and many other styles of face mask are still used today. Examples can be found in Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast and wide variety of African countries. The use of masks is fading but traditional masks are used to this day in Africa. They are use for celebration, spiritual and ritual purposes.
What is a helmet mask?
Within Mende and Sherbro culture, helmet masks are carved with symbolic features intended to endow the wearer with spiritual power. 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.
What is Bobo art?
In the literature on African art they are often called the Bobo-Fing, but they call themselves Bobo. The Bobo god, creator of earth and animals, is Wuro, who formed the world from a ball of mud. The first man created was a blacksmith. Dwo, a son of the Wuro was responsible for helping humankind.
Which religious tradition has been linked to the decorative designs of African masks?
The traditional religion of the Dogon people of Mali, for example, comprises three main cults (the Awa or cult of the dead, the Bini or cult of the communication with the spirits, and the Lebe or cult of nature); each of these has its pantheon of spirits, corresponding to 78 different types of masks overall.