Anthropomorphic mask "mbuya"

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Description

wood, pigments, plant fibre, raffia bast,
The Pende have a variety of mask “mbuya”. They perform in the village area purely for entertainment and at the initiation ceremonies of the “mukanda” men’s society.

The mask figures represent different characters and role models of Pende society. There are embodiments of chiefs (“fumu”), wise old men with long beards (“giwoyo” or “muyombo”), executioners (“pumbu”), fortune tellers (“nganga ngombo”) and bewitched persons “mbangu”, up to representations of clowns “tundu” and prostitutes “ngobo”.

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Comparing literature

Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 499

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