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The Sande sowei masquerades promote and represent the images of women in specific ritual and festive contexts. The ceremonies of the Sande society are the only occasions in Africa in which women customarily wear masks. Wooden masks worn during these public ceremonies, such as funerals or the installations of chiefs, are called sowo (sing.
African countries where masks are used traditionally Sande society sowei mask, 20th century Baoule Kple Kple Mask. Traditional African masks are worn in ceremonies and rituals across West, Central, and Southern Africa. They are used in events such as harvest celebrations, funerals, rites of passage, weddings, and coronations.
A masquerade ceremony (or masked rite, festival, procession or dance) is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks. The practice has been seen throughout history from the prehistoric era to present day. They have a variety of themes. Their meanings can range from anything including life, death, and fertility.
Akan peoples of West Africa commissioned nsodie memorial heads of royal personages. The funeral ceremonies of the Indigenous Australians typically feature body painting; the Yolngu and Tiwi people create carved pukumani burial poles from ironwood trunks, [91] while elaborately carved burial trees have been used in south-eastern Australia. [92]
During the ceremony, around 500 prisoners would be sacrificed. As many as 4,000 were reported killed in one of these ceremonies in 1727. [5] [6] [7] Most of the victims were sacrificed through decapitation, a tradition widely used by Dahomean kings, and the literal translation for the Fon name for the ceremony Xwetanu is "yearly head business". [8]
Mask from Gabon Two Chiwara c. late 19th early 20th centuries, Art Institute of Chicago.Female (left) and male, vertical styles. Most African sculpture from regions south of the Sahara was historically made of wood and other organic materials that have not survived from earlier than a few centuries ago, while older pottery figures are found from a number of areas.
Umhlanga [um̩ɬaːŋɡa], or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi event that takes place at the end of August or at the beginning of September. [1] In Eswatini, tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel from the various chiefdoms to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to participate in the eight-day event. [2]
They are currently (2011) working on completing their pan-African study of the art of body painting for a book entitled Africa: Spirit of Paint, as well as on their third and final installation of African Ceremonies, titled African Twilight, scheduled for publication in 2013. Beckwith resides in New York City and Fisher in London.