Songye mask

This mask comes from the Kwela people who live in Gabon's vast equatorial rainforest. Kwela masks come in a variety of styles, colors and uses. The most common Kwela mask is a small heart-shaped face painted with white kaolin, almond eyes, a triangular nose, and usually no mouth. This more unusual Kwela mask features six stylized eyes - a sign that the wearer is looking for the unknown. The mask is used during the "Beite" ceremony, when the protective forest spirits are called into the village and use their powers to protect the community from pain and harm. Kwela masks are generally not worn on the dancers' faces, but are placed on poles and displayed to the audience during the ceremony.

This African mask, which creatively combines elements of different animal forms, may be one of entertainment mask. His winged face is reminiscent of a half-breed, half-animal, half-human, a soul nature. Colorful paint. Beneath the Mande group in the south, central Côte d'Ivoire, on the banks of the Bandama River, Gourou are organized by descent, the western neighbors of Baoulé, who have borrowed a few Characteristic of their African tribal artistic creation. Animists who have used home since the 1950s A mask related to the early departure dance. Indeed like Baule's African Goli mask, the Guro suit The masks associated with the genius of nature have two morphing masks, followed by a third The personification is believed to be the woman in the Zamblé mask, Gu. these masks are The property of the family that enshrines ancestors, which they use for ceremonial and sacrificial purposes to attract divine blessings. Priests and soothsayers share major ceremonial functions across ethnic groups The Guro secret society worships the gods of nature through the masks where the gods are should live. Their patron saint, Zuzu, is enshrined in the statue altar. Les masques gu, Gye et Dye, aux mains de notables, ne Sont Exhibition qu'au cours de funérailles Force Majeure ou l'intronisation d'un chef (Kerchache)