Masks : their meaning and function

Citation preview

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Andreas Lommel

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MASKS Their Meaning and Function

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Translated by Nadia Fowler

Andreas Lommel

MASKS Their Meaning and Function

McGraw-Hill Book Company New York Toronto

© 197° Atlantis Verlag AG, Zurich © 1972 Translation Paul Elek Books Limited First published in the United States by McGraw-Hill Book Company, a Division of McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1972 All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-148992 SBN 07-038652-8 Printed in Switzerland

Contents

Introduction

7

Africa

9

Oceania: Melanesia, Polynesia, Australia

55

Ceylon

77

India, Indo-China and Indonesia

93

Tibet

96

Siberia

117

Alaska

125

North America

141

South America

13 7

Central America

167

Japan

179

Europe

197

Conclusion

213

Sources of the illustrations

221

Bibliography

223

Index

227

\

Introduction

To a large extent the original significance of the mask has been for¬ gotten in the ‘civilized’ world. Today we talk of ‘tearing the mask from someone’s face’ or ‘unmasking’ him, meaning that we have removed his disguise as an honest man and exposed him for what he really is. But the mask was once far more than a mere figure of speech. Its use, in ritual dances, was undoubtedly an important aspect of the religious and social life of our ancestors. Masks are still worn, of course; in many European countries, at carnival time, ordinary people appear disguised as pirates, Indian princes or whatever other picturesque character takes their fancy. But this is a disguise only, and the wearers have no idea of actually personifying the characters behind whose mask they hide. Originally, every mask was imbued with significance, and the mask itself or the person wearing it mysteriously represented some power or spirit. In some parts of the world the mask still retains a deep and often complex meaning. To understand their origin and true significance it is necessary to look at masks in all regions of the world. A study of masks in Europe alone would never give us full insight, for here masks, as a part of everyday life, belong to the distant past. Though the myths and beliefs with which they were associated may still survive to a certain extent in so-called folk culture, they do so only in a drastically reduced and much distorted form. The superb masks of Africa have long been familiar to collectors, and the African continent is one of the areas of the world where the true meaning of the mask is most clearly apparent, for masks still play a vital role in community life. The masks of the South Seas are generally rather less well known than those of Africa, although masks from the Melanesian islands of New Guinea, the New Hebrides and New Cale¬ donia may have become familiar to a wider public in recent years. In both Africa and Melanesia the mask is an integral part of culture and tradition. Within the Indian cultural sphere, notably in Ceylon and Tibet, masks are used in ways which seem particularly strange to western minds. Ceylonese masks represent demons of sickness. By some mysterious and, to us, quite incomprehensible means, which is nevertheless without doubt psychologically effective, the demons can be driven away once they have been made visible in the form of masks, and the illness is then cured. Similar ideas, though no longer so clearly defined, seem to have existed in India and Tibet. The American continent is also a rich area for masks. The Eskimo and the Indians of the northwest formerly made masks of extremely high artistic quality. In the geographically immense area covered by the subarctic cultures, that is Siberia and the northern part of North America, masks often take the form of animals. Sometimes they repre¬ sent a totemic ancestor; in other cases they represent the ‘spirit helper’ of a shaman, that is to say a spirit whom the shaman (a type of magician or medicine-man) has induced to help him in his magical tasks. In the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Peru, death-masks were fastened to the mummies of the dead; sometimes, too, the gods were depicted as masked figures. Another important type of mask is the theatre mask, known to the

7

European classical world and sdll used in Indonesia (in Java and Bali) and in Japan, where the art of mask-making has reached its highest peak. Japanese masks show how exquisite a work of art a mask can be. Europe has known a vast variety of masks throughout the ages, and all the concepts and interpretations of the mask that we have briefly noted must have been applied in Europe at one time or another. Mod¬ ern variations include purely utilitarian forms, such as the ‘beauty mask’ and the gas-mask. But even mask-forms which appear more authentic, such as carnival masks, are today no more than amusing and witty products of folk art. Much has been written about masks, many of the works being studies of the masks of particular areas. There is a need, however, for an exami¬ nation of the subject, which not only provides a survey of where and in what forms masks occur throughout the world, but also deals with the distribution of mask-types, the cultures and traditions with which they are associated and, above all, their functions. Ethnology is today so far advanced that it can reduce the widely scattered primitive com¬ munities, tribes, peoples and cultures of the world to a few common denominators. It should therefore be possible also to group masks into a few broad categories—but according to function rather than to style. These groupings according to function do not coincide with stylistic groupings; the curious interrelations and overlappings which occur can scarcely be explained in art-historical or cultural terms. Only a truly comprehensive survey, drawing together all the material con¬ tained in individual studies, can probe and reveal the essential nature and significance of the mask. This comprehensive work has not yet been written. One of the main interests in the study of ethnology rests on the view of primitive man as a preserver of the attitudes and conditions of the people of prehistoric times, conditions which western civilization has overcome, left far behind or even forgotten. Ideally, it should be pos¬ sible to reconstruct these early conditions on the basis of minute obser¬ vation of primitive cultures. In reality, however, matters are less simple, for these cultures have not stood still at a particular stage of development, but have been constantly influenced and changed by other, more highly developed cultures. They do not, therefore, present a faithful image of an earlier cultural state of mankind. Every primitive culture has developed individually, accepting and adapting outside stimuli in its own particular way. Thus, an examination of the masks of one such culture cannot be sufficient on its own to lead to any final conclusion. Only a comprehen¬ sive study of masks throughout the whole world and across the widest possible range of diverse cultures can throw light on the meaning of the mask to early man and tell us something of the concepts behind the creation and use of the mask by our earliest ancestors. The results of such an examination cannot possibly be summed up in a single sen¬ tence. We shall be dealing with a whole host of ideas, but, surprisingly enough, common denominators will emerge to unite them all.

8

Africa

The masks most familiar to the European collector are without doubt those from Africa. Whereas the masks of the South Sea islanders or the Eskimo remain less well known, the products of African art, and these include masks, have been avidly collected in Europe and America for at least the past sixty years. This does not mean, however, that African art, in all its mysteriousness, is understood in the Western world, and before dealing with African masks it is necessary first to touch upon the subject of African art in general. The forms of African art appear to be essentially determined by the mask. Yet masks, and with them Negro art as such, are found only in a strip of land stretching across the centre of the continent from west to east. In the rest of Africa, to the north and south, Negro art is absent, and the rock-paintings of nomads and hunters represent a totally different type of art from that of the settled agricultural Negro population of West and Central Africa. Africa is less culturally homo¬ geneous than is generally assumed in Europe. Like any other continent it has its various cultural zones. Furthermore, the people of Africa have not lived in a historical vacuum, isolated from the cultures of the rest of the world, and European and Asian influences have been absorbed and adapted to a very great extent. However, the very ability of the African to adapt elements from other cultures and preserve them over long periods of time gave the first European observers the impression that the peoples of this continent were unusually static in their cultural development.

^All purely African art is rooted in ancestor worship. For the agricultural tribes the symbol of the plant and seed, representing the regrowth of life out of death, has come to determine their conception of the world, and the whole of their art is rooted in this philosophy of life. Statuettes portray ancestors, masks represent the spirits of dead forebears and are the medium through which they speak to the present generation, and the decorative arts employ the same motifs over and over again. African art has two important centres, namely the West African coastal region and the Congo river region. There are connections between the two areas: the Bakuba of the Congo, for instance, have absorbed many elements of Nigerian art, and the Pangwe (or Fang), who live north of the Ogowe river in Gabon, have quite obviously carried to this area art forms originating in northern Sudan. Thus the abstract art which arose in areas where Islamic and West African elements met, has here penetrated much further south.

Origins of the African Mask To an African, a mask is far more than merely a facial covering. It includes the costume and adornments worn on the body. It is also more than a mere disguise, for it gives expression to the bond between a group of people and their ancestors. At the. same time a mask is the embodiment of a tradition and a guarantee of the continuity of an order hallowed by tradition. Theories about the origins of the African mask abound. It is undoubt-

9

edly a very early form of African art. A rock-painting at Tassili (reproduced in Merveilles du Tassili N’Ajjer by J.-D. Lajoux) depicts a mask showing a much closer resemblance to Congolese examples—the masks of the Basonge tribe for instance—than to masks from areas in northern Sudan which, in fact, lie much closer to the place in southern Algeria, near the Libyan border, where the painting was found. African masks can be divided stylistically into four groups: a realistic type, often representing a beautiful woman with classical features; masks representing animals; abstract masks; and masks in an expressionistic style. The first type, the ‘beautiful’ mask, is found throughout West Africa and the Congo, and it is masks in this style which have so delighted European collectors for the past hundred years. Animal masks are found in all areas and—since the Negro peoples have been farmers for centuries—may perhaps go back to ancient tribes of hunt¬ ers. Animal masks are also frequently encountered in border areas, where contact with hunters can easily take place. Abstract masks are much in evidence in the Sudan, an area where the style of the desert nomads, with its tendency towards abstraction, meets the more real¬ istic style of the West African Negro. The expressionistic style of mask is more or less universal, but seems to be particularly indigenous to the Congo and Cameroun. All these styles may have existed in Africa since time immemorial, but the perishable material of most masks precludes any great antiquity in those to hand. Only the bronzes from Benin and other finds excavated in Nigeria have proved to be ancient, and these date back several centuries. The bronze and terracotta heads from Ife have faces with classically beautiful features, and it is possible that the origins of the ‘beautiful’ type of mask may be partly traced back to these heads. But the art of present-day Nigeria mirrors historical events only in a fragmentary way. It is impressive but it lacks unity, being a conglom¬ eration of old styles and modern artistic ideas. Independent since i960, Nigeria is, by reason of her roughly fifty-five million strong population (Cameroun to the east has about five million, Dahomey to the west two and a half million, and Ghana, further to the west, eight and a half million) the strongest of the new African nations. The federation of Nigeria grew out of a British colony. The tribes and ethnic groups gathered within its boundaries differ widely. In the north live approximately fifteen million Moslems, descendants of various larger and smaller tribes which accepted Islam during the course of the last few centuries. They are still ruled by a Moslem administration in the form of emirs, who continue the old Islamic traditions. However, it was not always the north which represented the conservative and the south the dynamic element. A hundred years ago the tribes of the south, inflexibly set in their old traditions, were being hard pressed by the power of Islam bearing down from the north. The kingdom of Nupe, which still existed 150 years ago in the north, acted for many centuries as a bulwark against Islam. It was only under the protection of this power that the south could maintain its traditions and continue them down to the present day. This is particularly the case in the realm of art. But in northern Nigeria the old African arts have disappeared under the influence of Islam. All 10

that can be found there today are brass objects decorated with the flowing tendril motifs typical of Islamic art. Nevertheless, the sites where excavations are bringing to light the country’s earliest works of art lie in the north. One such is Nok, where, in recent years, the now famous terracotta heads (probably dating from c. 200 BC) were discovered. Plate 3 shows one such terracotta mask, which has a distinctly theatrical style, tending slightly towards caricature and reminiscent of the theatre masks of European antiquity. In the eyes, the nose, the head, the outline of the face and, in particu¬ lar, the way the beard and hair are indicated, it is not difficult to recognize elements of a prototype that can still be traced in African woodcarvings today. The heads from Nok all have a typically African feature, something that reappears in later periods and remains present in African art to this day: a tendency towards caricature. African art is essentially serious and dignified. But to compensate for this it also possesses a certain vein of humour, which has the effect of distancing it from reality and which is expressed particularly in witty caricatures of the human face. The Nok sculptures show this very clearly. It almost seems as though they have taken the theatre masks of antiquity as models, or as though the caricature-figure of the Egyptian god Bes survives in them. (Objects of later African art also sometimes bring to mind this same grotesque divinity.) An older form of the art of the Nok culture is perhaps represented by the clay head shown on Plate 1 (approxima¬ tely 500 to 200 BC). This early art of the north is, however, only of minor importance, and the reputation of Nigerian art rests mainly on the ancient kingdom of Ife in the region of the Yoruba in western Nigeria. Much of the art of Ife has only been discovered in the last few decades. Two examples are the bronze heads illustrated in Plates 4 and 5, which may have lain buried for 400 or 500 years. These bronze heads are not masks. They are portraits of rulers. However, heads such as these must surely have served as models for the classic-featured anthropomorphic masks of later times. Further west, in the Ivory Coast, there exist bronze prototypes for the masks of wood, and these may point to such a tradi¬ tion. The art of Ife may well have its origins in Nok, or it may even have ancient ties with the classical world, with Mediterranean cultures and with Egypt. At all events, it is splendidly African and exerts its influence on the art of the Yoruba to this day. The head illustrated in Plate 4 now gives an impression of sculptural smoothness and weight. But, as is apparent from the small holes in chin, head and upper lip, which probably served to attach beads or human hair, the original effect was intended to be quite different. The head shown in Plate 5 has regular parallel lines across the face, depict¬ ing an old and aristocratic tradition of tattooing. The face is of the same type as that in Plate 4, but is more alive. A comparison of the two heads shows the effect that facial tattooing can produce, and may help us to appreciate the significance of this unfamiliar way of deco¬ rating the body. The heads may, at a superficial glance, look very much alike. There is, nevertheless, a fundamental difference. Although they may both belong to the same period, one of them (Plate 5) still

possesses a liveliness that was later lost, whilst the other (Plate 4) shows the apathy inherent in a worn-out art style used solely in the service of a feudal lord. Despite the power and splendour still apparent in this particular head it already carries the seeds of ossification and de¬ generation. That such a style can still produce great works of art is obvious, but attention to detail and iconographical exactitude become almost an obsession, and gradually swamp the creative spirit. The terracotta head illustrated in Plate 2 was found only in 1953. Though typically African, it is also reminiscent of Egyptian art. It portrays an individual rather than a type. The contradiction between individual and type, however, is a concept which has arisen in Western civilization with the development of the free ‘personality’ and is not a universal idea. Heads such as this one portray people who are indi¬ viduals within the framework of a type and are an expression both of that type and of the cultural background. These sculptures have not been dated accurately and no clue has been found to the origin of this art. But in the art of Benin almost down to modern times, and in the woodcarvings of the Yoruba even to the present day, we can trace the continuity of its influence. The art of Benin was known in Europe for centuries without raising much interest, but at the end of the nineteenth century a British punitive expedition destroyed the kingdom of Benin, and many of its art treasures found their way into European collections. Benin art falls into roughly four periods. Around 1500 its bronze-casting technique was still reminiscent of that of ancient Ife. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a tendency towards increasingly schem¬ atic forms, while from about the middle of the eighteenth century onwards form became swamped by detail. The last period, starting approximately with the nineteenth century, is often regarded as that of the decline of Benin art. Yet it was in this very phase that the art freed itself from rigidity and exaggerated attention to detail. Benin art is now being absorbed into the general tradition of West African bronze sculpture. This depicts aspects of everyday life with much originality and humour and is laying the foundations for a living, modern form of artistic expression. The art of Nok and Ife and the later artistic developments which took place in Nigeria can also be seen to have had an effect further to the west, in the bronzes of the Ashanti of Ghana and of the Dan and Kran tribes of Liberia. A review of African art as a whole leads to the conclusion that bronze¬ casting, unable to maintain the high standards of former times, has fallen into decline. Modern African bronzes are by no means without originality. On the contrary they express a most fertile imagination. But they are monotonous in style and are far removed from really great art. Even the bronzes of Benin (dating from about 1500 to the end of the eighteenth century) impress us by their power rather than any subtlety. The high standards once embodied in bronze sculptures are now best carried on in wooden masks which are based on models in bronze. Wooden masks cannot be very old, as the material is too perishable. But constant faithful copying can preserve an earlier peak of perfection more satisfactorily than can copies made of durable 12

materials, which give an illusion of immobility, of an art permanently fixed on the level of a rarely attained excellence. The making of masks of bronze may go back to an ancient custom whereby kings were buried with death-masks. At all events, it seems that bronze masks of kings were made in order to ‘ preserve the face of the king’. Yoruba artists use terracotta no longer, and bronze only rarely. Wood has gradually replaced the earlier materials. As wood deteriorates quickly in these tropical regions, it is impossible to assess the changes that may have taken place in the course of a historical development stretching across centuries. We can survey only the artistic output of the last hundred years. Among the Yoruba there are various artists known by name, whose activities have been confined to their particular town or village and its immediate environs. In such cases the extent of an artist’s ability, his personal development, his attitude to ancient traditions or the effect of outside influences on his work can easily be verified. It is also possible to observe rivalries between two woodcarvers of the same region. Today the Yoruba artist excels mainly in the making of masks, which are used in traditional ceremonies and rituals. Among the Yoruba there are various religious societies which organize dance festivals in honour of the gods, where wooden masks are worn. But these are no ordinary masks. They take the form of elaborate pyramids of anthro¬ pomorphic figures, often equestrian, which tower high above the wearer s head. The base, which is slipped over the face, disappears beneath a mass of small carved figures. These masks may weigh as much as fifty pounds, and to perform a ritual dance while wearing one is something of an athletic feat. The gods in whose honour such cere¬ monies are held are Shango, god of iron and war, Obatala, god of creation and of growth, Ifa, the ‘principle’ of order, Eshu, the ‘prin¬ ciple’ of uncertainty, and Oshu, the river-goddess. Another popular mask is the ‘warrior’ mask, which takes the form of a solemn-looking bearded rider mounted on a rather diminutive horse. It is unlikely that there were horses in southern Nigeria in the past, but immediately to the north of the Yoruba, in the territory of the Moslem Hausa tribes, the horse is indigenous. These masks therefore indicate a link with the north and are perhaps evidence of an influence on the Yoruba of early Sudanese chivalric cultures. These pre-Islamic chivalric cul¬ tures themselves go back to early Mediterranean influences on the African continent. Great epic poems such as Dausi or The lute of Gassire, collected by Leo Frobenius at the beginning of this century, bear traces of such an influence. There is no actual proof that the art of mask-making in West Africa developed out of the culture which archaeology has brought to light on the banks of the Niger. But there are parallels too strong to ignore. The ‘ beautiful woman ’ masks are strongly reminiscent of the magni¬ ficent sculptures from Nok, while male masks could have originated in death-masks or in commemorative portraits of kings.

*3

West Africa There are several mask-making centres in West Africa, which may be influenced to a greater or lesser degree by Nigeria. One such centre is the Ivory Coast, where the Baule tribe are particularly renowned as sculptors. Another is Liberia, in particular the regions of the Dan and Kran tribes. Both areas have produced masterpieces of the classically beautiful mask. Further to the north, in Mali and the northern Ivory Coast, is an area where an abstract style of mask-making has evolved. Such masks, showing human beings or animals in abstract form, are some of the most interesting and artistically valuable of all African masks. The word ‘abstract’ suggests a drawing away or separation. With regard to masks this can be interpreted as a separation from tradition following a long development, or as a spiritualization. For in Africa the ghostly aspect of the mask is very often emphasized by the use of an abstract form. The best-known exponents of the abstract mask in West Africa are the Bambara and Dogon of Mali, the Senufo of the northern Ivory Coast and, further to the west, the Baga of Guinea. The masks of these tribes have been classified in a thorough study by Tibor Bodrogi. The Baule of the Ivory Coast have two types of mask, one showing a human face, the other the head of an animal. The function of the human mask is to make contact with Gu, the ruler of the world, while the animal mask, generally in the form of a two- or three-horned buffalo, makes contact with Kakagye or the guli, another divinity in the Baule pantheon. The Gu mask portrays a finely carved human face with features that hardly stand out from the black polished wood. The hair is indicated by a row of parallel grooves, the eyebrows are delicately drawn arches and the eyes are almost closed. The straight narrow nose is usually sharply edged and the mouth is carved in relief. The mask, which narrows a little at the lower end, often tapers into a feathery beard. Sometimes the face is surmounted by horns or by human, animal or bird figures carved in the round. There are several variations of the Kakagye or guli mask. Some take the form of a beautifully executed buffalo of antelope head, and these are close in style to the Gu masks. Others, which consist simply of a disc with two cylindrical bulges to indicate eyes, a rectangular mouth and two curved horns, are highly stylized. They are very effective in their way of expressing only what is essential. Very different in style from the typical Baule mask, they are reminiscent of the masks of the Bobo of Upper Volta. In the area between Liberia and the northern Ivory Coast mask¬ making has developed in a peculiarly complex manner, some masks tending towards a naturalistic style and others towards a more abstract style. The differences between the two types, moreover, lie not only in their form, but also in their significance and function. Among the tribes of the Ivory Coast, religion, in the form of ancestor-worship, has been the main principle behind mask-making. Among Liberian tribes, on the other hand, where the poro society (an all-male political secret society, active over a wide area) has been influential, the political and social functions of the mask have been given greater emphasis. 14

The territory of the Dan, Guere and Wobe tribes, who live near the upper reaches of the Cavally river, can be regarded as the meeting point of the two styles. These people believe that life on earth is ruled by an anthropomorphic supreme being. Called ‘Zlan’ by the Dan and

Nyonswa’ by the Guere and Wobe, this being is the creator of

all things. The best intermediaries between him and the people on earth are the ancestors of the latter. They can communicate with the supreme being and make his will known to the people still living on earth; they can also reward or punish people. However, the ordinary human being cannot contact his ancestors directly. Only the Go-priest can effect this link. The Go-priest draws his power from the Go-fetish, which stands in his hut and is an object composed of supernatural elements. The power of the fetish is enhanced by the presence of ancestors who are buried in the priest’s hut. Here too are kept their masks, which also possess supernatural power. Masks can be owned only by men. They can be inherited, or are commissioned by the owner from an artist at the order of the Gopriest. The mask is considered private property, but the Go-priest decides when the owner may wear it in public. Not all ancestor masks possess the same power; this varies according to the importance of the wearer. The mask remains the wearer’s property after death, but as it may be handed down to a son, the power of several generations may accumulate in an old mask. Supernatural powers are given form in the mask, and consequently, when the mask is worn in public, the wearer too is seen as a supernatural being. The mask can have two functions: it can be used as a fetish, as is the miniature mask; or it can be worn, in which case its role is to conjure up ancestors, spirits or other supernatural beings. Essentially, these ideas can be applied to the masks used by the Dan, Guere and Wobe groups. Liberian masks too carry basically the same associations, although the two areas are more or less separated by the border bet¬ ween Liberia and the Ivory Coast, which follows the courses of the Cavally and Nuon rivers. The Dan of northeastern Liberia and the Kran, who live further south, have more or less the same culture, but the meaning and function of their masks differ. The greater the in¬ fluence of the poro and sande societies on the life of these groups, the greater the social function of the mask. Among communities closer to the border this aspect of the mask is less apparent. The two societies are in contact with one another, but the all-male poro society is of greater social influence. One of its main concerns is the initiation of young men. In the northern parts of West Africa, influenced by Islam and the totally different traditions of the desert tribes, the mask has become more abstract in style. This region of Africa, artistically the most homogeneous of the whole continent, has developed a few particularly noteworthy tribal styles in that of the Bambara in the west, the Dogon in the north, the Bobo in the central districts and the Senufo in the south. The latter forms a transition to the softer styles of the coastal regions. The Bambara, roughly one million strong, live near the upper reaches of the Niger and belong linguistically to the Mande group. Despite 15

strong Islamic influences, much of their traditional way of life and old religion have survived. M!ost typical of their art are statues, masks and suguni kun (headdresses), made by the blacksmiths, who are also woodcarvers. The masks are worn at the festivals and traditional dances of the secret societies, and have various religious or social functions. The n’tomo society, for example, protects children, and youngsters belong to it until they are old enough to join one of the adult societies. The n’tomo mask represents a benevolent demon and has a stylized human face topped by a row of two to eight straight horns. Sometimes the mask is decorated with cowrie shells and red seeds. Frequently a female figure stands between the horns. Most striking of Bambara art objects are the antelope headdresses, which are outstanding for their variety and artistic inventiveness. Carved in the form of a stylized antelope, they commemorate the mythical serpent Tshi-wara, a creature half human, half animal. At the festivals which take place before the sowing or harvesting of crops, members of the agricultural fraternity—young men of the same age-group—perform a dance wearing these headdresses. Their movements imitate those of the antelope, revered as ruler of the plains since ancient times. East of the Bambara, on the borders of Mali and Upper Volta, live the Bobo, who, only slightly influenced by Islam, have preserved their original archaic culture. They are divided into three groups, of which the ‘black Bobo’ (Bobo Fing) have the greatest reputation as artists, although little is known even about their masks. Many of these appear to be connected with burial and mourning. The ‘red Bobo’ (Bobo Oule) make masks in stylized human or animal form, known as do. The do masks, which represent protective spirits, are, in style, reminis¬ cent of the guli masks of the Baule. The Dogon, whose territory lies in the bend of the Niger river south of Timbuktu, have a mask society (the awa) which is responsible for all mask-making. After circumcision every boy becomes a member of this society and, as such, he learns how to carve a mask and how to use it. A special costume, made of plant fibre and dyed red, is worn with the mask. The awa (the word signifies ‘bullroarer’ as well as ‘mask’ and ‘mask-society’) plays a significant part in the life of the people, uniting the otherwise much fragmented Dogon through a cult to which all adhere. Masks are of particular importance in funeral rites. The Dogon’s principle mask is the imina-na (‘great mask’), which was originally carved as a refuge for the spirit of the first member of the tribe to die. After sixty years the original mask became badly dilapidated and a new one had to be carved. Ever since, at intervals of sixty years, a new imina-na is made in every village during the traditional festival called sigui. The imina-na consists of a narrow board of wood, up to thirty feet in length, with the actual mask attached to its lower end. Because of its size it cannot be used during the dance. It is exhibited during the sigui or, when a distinguished member of the community dies, it is taken to his hut and left there for a while. Apart from the ‘great masks’, which are comparatively rare, the Dogon have innumerable ordinary face-masks. These play their part in burial rites and are also used to drive away the spirits of ancestors 16

from the statues which adorn the roofs of the huts. The ancestors are asked to go to Manga, the land of the dead. In the manufacture of these masks, no restriction is put on the imagination of the artist, who may portray a human being or any animal he wishes. By painting the mask in the characteristic colours of the animal shown, the artist ensures that the life-force (nyama) of the animal enters into it. Most masks are furnished with two horns or rudiments of horns. The kanaga masks have a head decoration in the form of a stylized crocodile. All Dogon masks are highly stylized. The various types can be reduced essentially to a basic form, which is a square containing two vertical notches with four- or three-cornered eye-slits. The angularity is soft¬ ened—not always to advantage—by the application of decoration in the form of red, black and white dots, triangles or flecks. The art of the Mossi, a warrior tribe who founded two kingdoms in Upper Volta after conquering the local population, is limited to masks, and these appear to be strongly influenced by the style of the Dogon. All their masks have a connection with the wango society, which is prevalent throughout the whole of the Mossi region. Its members, young men, dance at the funeral rites of chiefs and elders. The mask is also a symbol of the earth and the forest and, as such, it is set to stand guard over trees when the fruit is ripe. Wango masks are carved out of a single piece of wood and consist of two sections. The lower part has the form of a face, while the upper section is a narrow slab of wood, four to six feet in height. The oval face of the mask is based on the shape of a semi-cylinder; only a serrated vertical ribbing, bisecting the face, stands out from the surface. The round or triangular eye-slits are placed immediately to either side of the ribbing. Two carved antelope horns project from the upper part of the face, and above these is the tall slab of wood, decorated with geometric motifs carved in openwork or painted in red, black and white. The face of the mask is painted white, and sometimes the figure of a woman with slightly bent legs, reminiscent of a figure seen on masks of the Dogon, stands between the face-section of the mask and the surmounting slab. There is little indication that the Mossi produced any other kind of sculpture. Some of the most fantastic products of the near abstract style of mask¬ making are to be found among the Baga of Guinea. During the past fifty years the Baga have been largely converted to Islam, with the result that earlier religious beliefs are no longer current. Consequently, our knowledge of the original background to Baga art is somewhat incomplete. It is certain, however, that the secret societies which play such a large part in the lives of the tribes of western Guinea actively promote the traditional art of mask-making among the Baga too. The most important secret society of the Baga is the simo society, which, in its essential characteristics, resembles the poro society. The simo society has a prominent role to play at three stages of life: birth, circumcision and death. The most important of these occasions, however, is circum¬ cision, together with the initiation of both boys and girls. All the usual elements in such a ceremony are found here: isolation of the aspirants, initiation into the secrets of the cult, ceremonial return to the com¬ munity and ritual tattooing. The political influence of leaders of the society is great, and rank among dignitaries is strictly observed.

17

The most impressive simo mask is the great nimba mask, which takes the form of a human head with a forward-jutting face on the stylized upper body of a woman. Another simo mask is the banda, which, like the nimba, is very large, four to five feet long. The banda combines human and animal features: it has curved antelope horns, human eyes, a long nose and the jaw of a crocodile. Little is known of the meaning and function of the basony and kakilambc masks with their twisted and colourfully painted snake carvings, six to ten feet in length. On the basis of available examples they would appear to be the initiation masks of a secret society, used in various ordeals—notably the ordeal by fire—which form part of the initiation rites. The art of the Senufo of the northern Ivory Coast is closely connected with the activities of the lo secret society and with the cult of ancestors. In its essential characteristics the lo society corresponds to the poro society, active in the Guinea coastal region. Here again we encounter characteristic elements of the secret society: initiation, a hierarchic system of ranks and the performance of mask-ceremonies, together with a strong influence on the political, cultural, social and religious life of the village communities. The cult sites of the lo society are sacred groves, situated in the bush not far from the villages. In its ceremonies the lo society uses impressive animal masks in the form of an antelope, hippopotamus, ox or baboon. These enormous and monstrous helmetmasks are worn horizontally on the head, and the wearer is clad in a special raffia costume. One of the occasions on which they appear is the burial of a member of the society. Another type of mask used by the Senufo is worn over the face. It shows a stylized human face, or two faces side by side, with horns and tiny rudimentary ‘legs’ and often with relief decoration. Such masks are usually the property of weavers. They are normally used in threes, one of the masks having the purpose of driving away staring children. Among the Senufo, statues are used particularly in the cult of the ancestors. They vary in height from about four to forty inches and are kept in a special room. Here dishes of food are offered to them, the sacrificial rites being performed by the oldest man in the household. As the head of an extended patrilinear family unit, he is both a living ancestor and ‘ priest ’ of the domestic ancestor cult. Much has been written about West African masks, but it is not easy to come to any final conclusions on the subject, as far more is involved than simply the masks themselves. Masks are not merely linked with tradition; tradition is embodied in them. The following pages contain some descriptions and comments by different authors to illustrate the meaning and functions of masks in West African life.

Other Authorities on African Masks In his book Afrikanische Masken, Himmelheber includes a charming and humorous account of the life of a craftsman and mask-maker by an African, the son of a blacksmith. ‘ My father’s smithy stands at the edge of the village. It is simply a roof stuck on a post. Under the roof are a pair of bellows and a huge piece 18

of rock, which serves my father as an anvil. But my father is a woodcarver as well as a blacksmith. He can carve masks, big wooden spoons for the leading women of our village, wooden figures and pestles. He can also cast metal, but that kind of work is usually done by a relative who works for my father and who is particularly good at casting metal. My father can do many more things: he can file teeth to a fine point, 01 pull out the lower incisors, in the way we like it. It looks fine when one laughs, and one can let one’s tongue play in the gaps between the teeth when one is talking. When one gets old, the teeth that have been filed drop out, but what does that matter? It is what one represents in youth that counts. My father also tattoos the women, and they come to him from all the neighbouring villages to have new, artistic hairstyles designed by him. ‘My father has such a great reputation as a blacksmith and woodcarver that chiefs send for him to come and work for them. When he does this, a special smithy is erected for him and he stays for several months. People come to him from all the surrounding region to have bushknives and hoes made. He can even repair their old guns. Anyone who has work for the blacksmith must see that his wife takes food to the smithy, so that the blacksmith can eat whilst working. The price for the work is fixed before the blacksmith starts and if it is to be done in a hurry the money is paid in advance. My father used to have too much work to do in the smithy to work his plot of land himself, and so he often took only half the payment in money and for the other half sent the man to the plot to help in clearing or burning the bush. The chiefs used to give my father presents of goats and sheep and cloth, so that he became very wealthy. The chief of Glale even gave his daughter Deaguie to my father as wife, and that is a great honour! But the bride-price has to be paid just the same, and with a chief that is an expensive business! With Deaguie, however, things went wrong at first. When my father had paid up it was found that the chief had already sold his daughter once before, and now the people came to ask for their money back. But as the chief had long ago spent it all, and as my father very much wanted to keep the girl, there was nothing left for my father to do but to give a cow to the people pressing for payment. As he had no cow himself, he asked some sturdy lads, relatives of his, to catch him any cow they could find. Next day the owner of the stolen cow came and complained bitterly. My father said, “Give me one week”. Then he worked in his smithy day and night and in a single week earned enough money to buy a cow. ‘ My father married eight wives during the course of his life and they bore him nineteen children. But these were only the children of his legal wives. When we, the sons of Tame, travel across the country and fall in love with a pretty girl and want to marry her, we are sometimes told: “It is impossible. The girl is your sister. Tame worked here for a year for the chief.” Yes, my father lived up to his name. “Tame” means “wanderer”. My grandfather gave him that name without knowing what a great wanderer my father was to be.’ The famous German Africanist Leo Frobenius gives an account of masks and their usage among the Bozo of Mali in his history of African 19

culture (Kulturgeschichte Afrikas). Naturally he sees more behind the scenes than other observers and stresses the uncanny element in masks, as exemplified by their function within secret societies. ‘The kumang secret society is far less important today than the diarra, but it is the older and more dangerous of the two societies. In the old days the kumang had unlimited power, but later this power was curbed and the society’s sphere of influenced narrowed, for too many people were dying during the great kumang festivals. The feasting lasted for seven days, during which time of carousal the kumang masks made no appearance. But if I interpret correctly the rather vague statements of my informants, it was during these seven days that the elders agreed who should be eliminated, or how some problem besetting the com¬ munity could best be solved by the intervention of the kumang. ‘The gathering [for the main kumang ceremony, held every seven years] took place around a genipa tree. The kumang mask is carved from the wood of this tree and the tree itself is the emblem of the society. At the order of the mare (the leader of the society) a pit was dug at the foot of the tree and into it went a masked figure dressed in a costume made of feathers. On the fourth day of the seven-day festival, at around three o’clock in the afternoon, this embodiment of the kumang returned to the light of day. First, offerings of cola-nuts, flour and the blood of slaughtered oxen, together with magic potions, were thrown into the pit. Then the dialle, the master of ceremonies, began to sing a solemn and sacred song, beginning with the words: “Pit, kumang, tree nearby, (one) bud fades, (one) bud blossoms”. Whilst this was being sung there was a movement in the depth of the pit and then, slowly, the feathery shape of the kumang-priest began to rise. He sang a few words, to which the elders, sitting in a circle facing inwards, responded. They clapped their hands in time with the dance of the mask, but were forbidden to look behind on pain of death. In the meantime the kumang-priest danced round the outside of the circle. Already some of the men were dropping dead under the terrible impact of the power residing in the masked embodiment of the kumang. ‘At first the kumang-priest appeared as small as a ten-year-old child; then the masked figure grew as high as the palm-trees. In the course of the dance his height, shape and movements changed constantly, as I could see for myself; Nansen, my collaborator, was able to make some sketches of this phenomenon. The dancing figure grew tall, then sank down; the appearance of the feathery costume fluctuated, some¬ times seeming huge, sometimes small, sometimes almost white and sometimes grey. On the first day of his manifestation the kumang danced until late in the night. At the end of the dance the circle of men broke up and now each one had the right to question the kumang about future events or about the fate of this or that person. The priest would give answers to all and predict what was to happen between then and the next kumang festival in seven years’ time. ‘ In this mask-ceremony the two essential elements appear to have been the performance of the “prophetic” dance and a kind of social “purging”. Participants in the ceremony could ask the mask questions about anything—sickness, death, property, the rise or fall of a family— 20

i

Terracotta head, NiggriayTound in Nok, 1943, by Bernard Fagg.

GHHRP* 4 :v '

i

i^^^Ki * fc ■ "M®*

J

4 2

Terracotta head, Ife; excavated 1953, near the altar of Olokun Walode, a goddess of wealth. Her cult was particularly sacred to members of the Walode family.

Bronze head, Ife; one of eighteen heads found in 1938/39 in Wunmonije, near the palace of the Oni of Ife. This head differs from all others in that it contains 3 per cent of gold. The small holes around the mouth and near the hairline served to attach either beads or human hair.

3

5

Terracotta head, Nok culture; found in Kakura near the Kaduna river, Northern Nigeria.

Bronze head, Ife; found at the same place as 4, but made by a different artist.

6 Small wooden sculpture of the Baule, Ivory Coast; ornament on a weaver’s loom. Not a mask in the strict sense of the word, but a good example of the modern African artist’s conception of the human face.

7 Mask of the Bozo, Mali; an animal mask, probably portraying a god in the shape of a ram. This type of work seems to show traces of classical influence.

8 Brass mask of the Ashanti, Dahomey; obviously the work of a Yoruba artist.

9 Face-mask of a mummy, Egypt, Late Period; lacquered wood, painted white, with red and blue design. 10

Mask of the Dan, Liberia; damage done by termites eating into the wood has heightened the melancholy expression of this mask. 11

10

Mask with headpiece portraying a rider, Nigeria.

12

Mask of the Baule (Yaure type); particularly beautiful hard wood, stained brown and polished. 13 Mask with small head decoration portraying a fabulous creature. Guro, Ivory Coast. Side whiskers are a symbol of masculine dignity amongst the Guro.

*4 Kakilambe mask of the Bansundi society, Baga tribe, Guinea; portrays a snake, rearing up. The black and white zigzag pattern to left and right of the red central line is engraved.

!5 Mask of the Dogon, Mali; a so-called imina na; light¬ weight, light-coloured wood. Represents a mythical ancestor. 16 Mask of the Baga, Guinea; represents Nimba, goddess of fertility.

17

Mask of the Senufo, Mali; the female figure possibly represents Yasigine, the only woman to have been accepted into the mask-society in ancient times. 18 Kakilambe mask of the Baga, Guinea. This mask, a synthesis of man and animal, is shown only every seven years. 19 Molo mask of the Bobo, Upper Volta. 20 Banda mask of the Nalu (Baga style), Guinea. This is the most important mask of the simo secret society, representing a combination of human and animal forms and symbolizing the powers of man and beast. 21 Mask of the Bambara, Upper Volta.

■*V '

Volkerkunde, Berlin. Berlin 1966.

Klabund: Dumpfe Trommel und berauschtes Gong, Nachdichtungen chinesischer Kriegslyrik. Insel-Biicherei Nr. 183. Leipzig. von Kleist, Heinrich: Uber das Marionettentheater, Insel-Biicherei Nr. 481. Leipzig. Knaur Nachf. (editor) Die Welt, aus der wir kommen. Munich/Zurich 1961. Arte Colombiana, Schatze aus Kolumbien. Catalogue, Overstolzenhaus, Cologne. Cologne 1962.

Meauze, Pierre: African Art Sculpture. London 1968. Meister, P. W.: Chinesische Bronzemasken, vol. 14. Berlin 1938.

in:

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Zeitschrift,

Mellaart, James: Earliest Civilizations of the Near East. London 1965. Collection of C.P. Meulendijk, African sculpture. Catalogue, Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde. Rotterdam 1967.

Kooijman, S.: The Art of Lake Sentani, The Museum of Primitive Art. New York 1959.

Millot, Jacques: Masques peints du theatre chinois, in: Objets et Mondes, vol. Ill, Fasc. 1. Paris 1963.

Kutscher, Gerdt: Exotische Masken. Stuttgart 1953.

Mode, Heinz: Indische Friihkulturen und ihre Beziehungen zum Westen. Basle 1944.

Lajoux, Jean Dominique: The Rock Paintings of Tassili. London/Cleveland 1963/1965

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Guide to the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden. Leiden 1962. Leiris, Michel: Message de l’Afrique, in: Le Musee Vivant, 12th annual series, no. 36/37. Paris 1948. Leiris, Michel and Delange, J.: African Art. London 1968. Leuzinger, Elsy: Africa: the Art of the Negro Peoples. London/New York i960. Leuzinger, Elsy: Catalogue, Rietberg-Museum, Zurich. Zurich i960. Lommel, Andreas: Die Unambal. Hamburg 1952. Lommel, Andreas: Nigeria. Munich 1962. Lommel, Andreas: Vorgeschichte und Naturvolker. Giitersloh 1967. Lot-Falck, Eveline: Les Masques Esquimaux et Aleoutes de la Collection Pinart, in: Journal de la Societe des Americanistes, vol. XLVI. Paris 1957. Lucas, Heinz: Lamaistische Masken. Kassel 1962. Lucas, Heinz: Japanische Kultmasken, Der Tanz der Kraniche. Kassel 1965.

Miinsterberger, W.: Primitive Kunst. Munich 1955. Musee Guimet: Le masque. Paris 1959. Musee de PHomme: Chefs-d’oeuvre du Musee de PHomme. Paris 1965. Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munich: Kunst der Siidsee, exhibition catalogue (Amerika-Haus). Munich 1952. Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munich: Afrikanische Kunst, exhibition catalogue (Amerika-Haus). Munich 1953. Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde Munich: Indianer vom Amazonas, exhibition catalogue. Munich i960. Newton, Douglas: Art Styles of the Papuan Gulf, The Museum of Primitive Art. New York 1961. Nevermann, Hans: Masken und Geheimbiinde in Melanesien. Berlin 1933. Nevermann, Hans: Gotter der Siidsee, Die Religion der Polynesier. Stuttgart 1947. Niggemeyer, Hermann: Masken, catalogue, Stadtisches Museum fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main i960. Niggemeyer, H., Himmelheber, H., and Fischer, E.: Plastik der Afrikaner, catalogue, Stadtisches Museum fiir Volkerkunde, Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main 1967. 225

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226

Zerries, Otto:

Index

The numerals immediately following the index entry refer to text pages; those preceded by the abbreviation PI. refer to the plates. Abstract masks io, 14, 15, 17, 44, 45, 125, 159; PI. 23, 24 Africa 7, gff., 55, 56, 77, 96, 117, 198, 213, 214, 215, 218, 219; PI. 1-22, 24-35 Alaska 58, 77, 85, 117, i25ff., 213, 214, 217; PI. 78, 80-85 Aleutian Islands 141, 214, 217 America, Central 167fF., 198, 214, 217; PI. 108-120 America, North 7, 97, 98, 117, 141 fT., 168, 214, 216, 217; PI. 78, 80-85, 87-92, 94-99 America, South 7, 55, 77, 117, 157fT., 214, 216, 217; PI. 100-107 American Indians 7, 58, 119, I4iff., 157 fT., 168, 214, 216, 218; PI. 89-99, 102-107, 114-119 Ancestor worship 9, 14, 15, 18, 45, 55, 56, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63,

Colombia 157, 218; PL 104, 105 Composite masks 18, 119, 125, 126, 141, 214; PL 18, 20, 85 Congo region 9, 10, 44b, 215; PL 24, 26-29, 31 Cook, James 57, 58, 59, 62 Dahomey 10, 215; PL 8 Dan tribe 12, 14, 15; PL 10 Death-masks 7, 13, 58, 119, 141, 167, 198, 214, 215, 216, 217; PL 9, IOI, III Dieterlen, Germaine 41 ff. Do masks 16, 41; PL 22 Dogon tribe 14, 15, 16b, 41, 42, 43, 55; PL 15 Dorset culture 125, 217; PL 88 Easter Island 55, 56 Egypt 11, 12, 56, 214, 215; PL 9 Eskimo 7, 9, 117, 118, 119, I25ff, 141, 158b, 214, 216, 217, 218; PL 79-86 Europe 7, 8, 11, 58, 97, 125, 179, 197ff-, 213, 214, 215, 218; PL 137-150 Frobenius, Leo 13, 19

93, 98, 179, 199, 213, 214, 215, 218; PI. 36, 40, 44 Animal masks 7, 10, 14, 16, 17, 18, 43, 119, 126, 141, 144, 197, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218; PI. 7, 18, 20, 22, 32, 35, 69,

Gabon g, 44; PL 30 Ghana 10, 12 Gigaku masks 179; Pl. 123 Greenland 125; PL 86 Guatemala 214; PL 114, 119 Guinea 14, 17, 18; PL 14, 16, 18, 20

85, 92, 93, 98, 99, I02, 103, 107 Ashanti 12; PI. 8 Asia, Southeast 7, 8, 45, 57, 77fT, 96, i8of., 213, 214, 216; PI. 50-67 Australia 55, 58, 60 ff., 117, 125, 159, 179, 213; PI. 46-48 Austria 97, 197, 200; PI. 137-140, 143

Hartmann, Gunter 157, 158 Hausa tribe 13 Hawaii 55, 58 Henry, Teuira 59 Hinduism 78, 85, 93, 94

Baga tribe 14, 17, 41; PI. 14, 16, 18, 20 Bakuba tribe 9, 44 Baluba tribe 45 Bali 8, 45, 78, 93, 94, 95, 179, 214; PI. 57-62 Bambara tribe 14, 15b, 41, 42, 43; PI. 21 Banda masks 18; PL 20 Bapende tribe 44; PI. 31 Barong 94; PI. 59, 60 Basonge tribe 10, 45; PI. 26, 27, 28 Bateke tribe 44; PI. 23, 24 Baule tribe 14, 16; PI. 6, 12 Bavaria 197, 198 Benin 10, 12 Bobo tribe 14, 15, 16, 41; PI. 19, 22 Body painting 55, 60; PI. 46-48 Borneo 93 Bozo tribe igff., 42; PI. 7 Brazil 159; PI. 102, 103, 107 British Columbia PI. 89-91, 94, 96, 97 Bronze heads 10, 11, 12, 13; PL 4,5 Buddhism 79, 80, 83, 85, 96, 98, 117, 214; PL 123 Bugakn 179; Pl. 122 Burma 93; PL 65 Cambodia 93 Cameroun 10, 44 Canada 125, 142, 217; PL 87, 88, 95 Carnival masks 7, 198; PL 144, 147, 149 Ceylon 7, 63, 77ff., 93, 96, 142, 158, 213, 216; PL 50-55 China 57, 96, 119, 179, 198, 214, 217, 218; PL 73, 74

Ife 10, 11, 12; PL 2, 4, 5 Imina-na 16, 41; Pl. 15 India 7, 77, 78, 85, 93, 95, 96, 97, 179, 213, 214, 216, 218 Indonesia 8, 45, 57, 78, 93 ff, 179, 180b, 214, 216, 217, 218; PL 57-64, 66, 67, 124-126 Initiation 15, 17, 18, 41; PL 107 Iroquois 97, 142; PL 87, 95 Islam 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 43, 78, 117 Israel 44; PL 23 Ivory Coast 11, 14, 15, 18; PL 6, 13 Japan 8, 93, 94, 125, 141, I79ff, 197, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219; PL 121-123, 127-136 Java 8, 93, 94b, 179, 180b, 214, 216, 219; PL 64, 121, 124-126 Jericho 56, 215, 218 Kakilambe masks 18; PL 14, 18 Kifwebe masks 45; PL 26-28 Kumang society 20 ff. Kyogen 180, 181; PL 127, 128 Lascaux 197, 218 Liberia 12, 14, 15, 215; PL 10 Lo society 18 Makonde tribe 45; PL 32, 33, 35 Mali 14, 16, 19, 41; PL 7, 15, 17 Manchuria 119, 179, 198 Marka tribe 42, 43

227

771047 Mask-ceremonies 18, 2of., 42k, 63, 77, 83!., 96, 126, 129, 141, 144, 157, 197, 218, 219; PI. 52, 68, 69 Medicine-men (see also Shamanism) 6iff., 142, 213; PI. 28 Melanesia 7, 45, 55, 56 ff., 63, 96, 179, 198, 213, 214, 216, 218; PI. 36-45, 49 Mexico 7, 141, 142, 158, 1676, 214, 217; PL 108-113, 115— 118, 120 Mongolia 96, 97, 213, 214 Mossi tribe 17 Mourning-dress 59, 60 M’Pongwe tribe 44; PI. 30 Mycenae 198, 214, 215 Myth 43, 58, 78b, 96, 128b, 142, 167b, 199, 218 JVdomo masks 41, 42 New Britain PI. 40, 41, 49 New Caledonia 7, 58 New Guinea 7, 55, 56, 57, 60, 215, 216, 217, 218; PI. 36-38,

43 New Hebrides 7, 56, 57, 58, 215; PI. 44 New Ireland 57, 125, 215, 216 New Zealand 56, 215 Nigeria 9, iofb, 14, 44, 215; PI. 1-5, 11, 25 N5 theatre 17966, 181; PI. 129, 132, 134, 135 Nok 11, 12; PI. 1, 3 Oceania 7, 9, 45, 55ff, 77, 125, 198, 213, 215, 217, 218; PI.

36-49 Peru 7, 157, 158, 216, 217; PI. 100, 101, 106 Polynesia 55, 56, 58ff, 213, 217, 218 Poro society 14, 15, 17, 18 Prehistoric art 10, 117, 119, 197, 218; PI. 26 Preuss, K. T. 77, 157 ff. Puppets 93, 94b, 180, 18if., 214, 219; PI. 64, 65, 67

Sepik river cultures 56, 57; PI. 36-38, 43 Shamanism 7, 58, 61, 63, 79, 85, 96, 97, 98, 11766, 125, 126, 141, 142, 158, 197, 200, 213, 214, 215, 216, 218; PI. 75-78,

85 Siberia 7, 58, 77, 79, 85, 96, 11766, 142, i97f-> 213, 214, 216; PI. 75-77 Sickness-demons 7, 77, 96, 118, 125, 142, 157, 158, 213; PI.

53> 54 Sigui festival 16, 42 Sikkim 97; PI. 68, 6g Simo society 17, 18; PI. 20 Skulls, remodelled 56, 58, 215, 218; PL 36, 40, 44 Solomon Islands 56, 58; PL 42 South Sea cultures, see Oceania Spirit helpers 7, 62, 63, 77, 96, 117, 118, 119, 125, 141, 142, 158, 213, 214, 215, 218; PL 84 Sudan 9, 10, 44, 218 Sumatra 93; PL 66, 67 Sun-masks 157b; PL 104, 105 Switzerland 97, 197; PL 141, 142, 144-150 Tahiti 59 b Tanzania 45; PL 32, 34, 35 Tassili 10; PL 26 Tattooing 11, 17 Terracotta 11, 12, 13; PL 1-3, 100 Thailand 93; PL 56 Theatre masks 7, 11, 119, 17966, 198, 200, 214, 217, 219; P6 56, 73> 121-136 Tibet 7, 78, 85, 93, 96ff, 142, 213b, 216; PL 70-72 Tietgens, Rolf 144 Trois-Freres 197, 218 Trophy heads 216, 217, 218; PL 100 Tscham 97; PL 70-72 Upper Volta 14, 16, 17, 41; PL 19, 21, 22

Rangda 94; PI. 58, 59 Rasmussen, Knud 12686 Sande society 15 Secret society masks 16, 41, 42, 56, 198, 213; PI. 25, 29, 49 Senufo tribe 14, 15, 18; PL 17

Wayang Golek 94, 181; PL 64 Wayang Topeng 94; PL 121, 124-126 Takku 80ff.; PL 53, 54 Yoruba 11, 12, 13; PL 8, 25

MARYGROUE COLLEGE

3 1T57 OOOfiHDflfc, D

DATE DUE

D£l- I 8 201 )

GAYLORD

#3523PI

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