Articles

History of Africa: Ancient Africa; Africa during the Colonial Period, Part One; Africa during the Colonial Period, Part Two; Independence: The Challenges of Reconstruction
Poverty in Africa: Poverty in Africa; Poverty has a variety of causes; African Women’s Cooperatives and Fair Trade: A Lasting Solution to Poverty; What is Fair Trade and How Can it Relieve Poverty?
War and Children: Children Soldiers in Africa
Special Issues: Water, the liquid gold of Africa; The HIV-AIDS Epidemic in Africa
African Art: Masks in Africa; Masks in Africa, part 2

African masks, Part Two

Another important thing to consider when discussing masks is the balance between tradition and fresh ideas. Although tradition is and will always be important in African culture; Africans also understand the importance of evolution as a society. This is why you will even find some masks being taken out and intentionally destroyed after ceremonies. It is a move made to show children that even if the mask has been made in the same way for generation after generation, it will be made for another ceremony in different circumstances the next time. It also shows kids that tradition is born from each generation repeating the same task in their own way.

Finally, it is very important to remember that African masks are not made to be hung up or displayed. They remain practical tools which are intended to do many other things. The person wearing the mask is not important. It is the mask which takes on a life of its own. It is carried or worn for a reason, not because the people think it is pretty or scary for instance.

Here are a few reasons that people use masks, but there are many other reasons too:

During agricultural festivals masks are worn either to ask the ancestors for a good rain season or to show thanks for a good harvest.
The Dan people use a mask which is worn to announce fire in the fields. A person called the “runner” races through the village wearing the mask which lets people know that the fields are on fire. This means that the “runner” is not the one announcing bad news, the mask is.
Sometimes masks are worn to announce that a person has been approved to enter a certain territory. This kind of mask is called a passport mask because it gives the person carrying it a “pass” to enter an area where people from a different tribe or ethnic group live. The same idea is used today all over the world. So if you wanted to take a trip to China for example, you would need a “passport mask”. The only difference is that yours would be made of paper and would have your picture on it.
Masks are often worn or carried during funeral ceremonies. They are used to invite the ancestors to come and show the person who died how to get to heaven or to chase off bad spirits which might want to possess the dead body.
Many masks are worn during ceremonies which gather groups of boys or girls and announce that they are now old enough to marry.