Kurumba Headdress- Burkina Faso |
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Antelope Headdress wood and natural pigments
The Kurumba call themselves Nioniosi and are grouped into several clans: the Sawadougou, the Oueremi, the Zale, the Tao and others. Their cultural masks are designed to establish a relationship between the elements of the myths and the cyclical event of funeral or agrarian rituals. Their sculptural antelope helmet masks- the adone are mostly shown at the ceremonies marking the end of mourning for a "land chief." The spirit of the deceased is captured by the adone and temporarily placed into the seat of the altar. The carvers and wearers of the mask come exclusively from the Sawadougou clans who are said to be the direct descendants of the founder of the Nioniosi society (Paudrat in Huet 1978, p. 102). |
