Mask "okuyi" ·  Gabon, Punu · ID: 3035707

Description

light wood, corresponding with the Punu ideals of beauty: half-closed eyes, finely arched eyelids, a narrow nose, a mouth with red lips, hairdo with central crest and flat lobes aside, characteristic whitened facial plane (extremely abraded), min. dam., cracks, small missing parts, base;
belonging to the so-called “white-faced masks from the Ogue”. These masks represented female entities from the spirit world, fantastical beings who intervened in the villages on important collective occasions: bereavements, palavers, the birth of twins, times of epidemic, hunts for malevolent sorcerers, and so on. Masked dancers standing on stilts would confront each other in “jousts”. Each dancer would be assisted by a team, whose purpose was to help him perform his competition with an acrobatic feat. The best dancer in the eyes of public would win the match.

Comparing literature

Fagaly, William, Ancestors of Congo Square, New Orleans 2011, p. 276 ff.