What does the Dogon mask represent?
The highly revered Dogon masks are worn to mark occasions throughout the year. The masks, according to the Dogon serve as a connection between heaven, which is the afterlife and earth. One of the most popular dance rituals is the “dama”.
What are Dogon Kanaga masks and what are they used for?
Dogon masks, such as this one called kanaga, are worn primarily at dama, a collective funerary rite for Dogon men. The ritual’s goal is to ensure the safe passage of the spirits of the deceased to the world of the ancestors.
What is the significance of the African antelope mask?
The Guro peoples have a number of antelope masks. Some are danced primarily for entertainment, while others represent powerful male spirits too dangerous and destructive to allow into the village. The masks of the neighboring Yaure peoples are emblems for the spirit power yu and have human and animal features.
What are Dogon masks made out of?
Following a death, Dogon peoples bury the dead immediately. They dance emina, masks carved from wood and woven from hibiscus fiber, as part of a sequence of rites that are conducted for men long after they are buried.
How does a Dogon dancer show respect for someone who dies?
The Glory of Masks After this local performance the spectators move with masks and drummers to the houses where people have died in the previous years, because after all is danced and done, the masks are to honour the departed and provide their means to become ancestors.
How is the Kanaga mask activated?
The carver, a blacksmith, finds the proper tree and, in a secret cave outside the village, he shapes the mask with gestures which repeat the movement of the dancers who will wear it. When a dancer wears the Kanaga mask he becomes the Creator symbolically.
What do the colors on African masks mean?
Red- Life & blood; Gold- Fortune; Blue- Innocence; Green- The earth and Africa as the mother country; Black- The Unity of the people of Africa -show their understandings of one selected African mask – Brainstorm ideas for creating their own personal masks.
What is the history of African masks?
It is believed that the earliest masks were used in Africa before Paleolithic era. They represent spirits of animals or ancestors, mythological heroes, moral values or a form of honoring of a person in a symbolic way. They are made from wood, pottery, textiles, copper and bronze.
How do I identify an African mask?
Check the back of the mask for wear, including the holes for fastening the mask on the face. The wearer does a lot of moving in his dances, and contact between body and wood can leave sweat and oil stains. 2. Look for wear from forehead, cheeks, chins and noses.
Why are animal forms very common in mask designs?
Animal masks, their features elongated and formalized, are common in western Africa. Believing that the human spirit could take animal form and vice versa, the makers of these masks fused human and bird or other animal into one mask. Some of these articulating masks acted out entire legends as their parts moved.
Why do tribes wear masks?
Masks serve an important role in rituals or ceremonies with varied purposes like ensuring a good harvest, addressing tribal needs in time of peace or war, or conveying spiritual presences in initiation rituals or burial ceremonies. Some masks represent the spirits of deceased ancestors.
What does the shape of the Kanaga mask represent?
The Kanaga mask is surmounted by a vertical structure that represents a bird and also refers to the arms and legs of the creator God, Amma, and to the structure of the universe: the upper horizontal bar is the sky and the lower one the earth. Today, the Dogon also perform the Kanaga masquerade for tour groups in Mali.
What kind of animal does a Dogon mask represent?
The better known Kanaga and sirige masks are followed in the dama ceremony by masks that evoke the behavior of some of the animals that inhabit the regions where the Dogon live and hunt. They include among others – antelopes, hares, lions, hyenas, cows, birds and monkeys.
What are the names of the Dogon monkeys?
The Dogon utilize three types of monkey masks which are identified solely by their color rather than their shape. For the Dogon, Dege is the black monkey, while the white monkey is known as Omono, and the red monkey is called Ko.
What did the Dogon do to the dead?
The Dogon continue an ancient masquerading tradition called “Dama” which commemorates the origin of death. Dama memorial ceremonies are held to accompany the dead into the ancestral realm and restore order to the universe.
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