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African Masks
There are certain things that people thing of when they hear a word and when most people hear Africa they immediately get images flashing through their minds. Lions, savannahs, dark-skinned natives and African masks! The media is most likely to blame for these images that most people think of though some people think of the less than colorful or wonderful parts of Africa too like the poverty and war. Be that as it may, African masks are sought the world over as artistic objects of beauty and can be seen in many museums the world over – though most of these pieces are replicas. Even though many people like the look and feel of the masks, few people actually stop to consider the significance of the mask to the people that it belongs to.
African masks come in three different ‘styles’ as it were. The style depends on what the mask was originally used for and what it was meant to signify. Some masks are meant to be worn vertically as a mask is often worn. Others cover the entire head and face often with pieces of cloth included to facilitate this and the final style is where the mask is worn as a helmet. In the last instance, there is also cloth usually involved to obscure the wearer’s face while they are wearing the mask. Whatever the style of the mask, the masks tend to have the same significance to the people though the specific beliefs that surround the mask differ slightly from person to person.
The masks are worn during any number of ceremonies and the person that is chosen to wear the mask has a great responsibility. The masks can be worn at celebrations, at harvest festivals, initiations, weddings, or in preparation for war. The African masks can depict whatever is required for the specific ceremony. They can depict things like animals, spirits, deities, ancestors or even concepts like good and evil. Many families that revere their ancestors take pride in the masks that depict their ancestors and the masks are passed from generation to generation with more being added as honored ancestors join the ranks of the others.
Ironically, however, many of the African masks that are available to tourists are just silly knock offs of the real thing. While they are often quite beautiful and well made, depending on where you buy them, they are not, as such, real African masks. That is one of the reasons why few museums actually have any real masks in their exhibits. The people are too proud of the masks and the heritage that is behind them to hand them over to strangers to display for all to see. African masks do come with a strange sort of mystic quality to them that come from being part of the dark continent of Africa. Their rough and often scary countenances all have a meaning to the people who made them but across the oceans other people simply buy them for the aesthetic value.
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