Bambara
(Bamana, Banmana), Mali
Ceremonial
hyena mask. The
Bambara numbering some 2.5 million form the largest and most powerful ethnic group in the
Western Sudan; they live in the open savanna to the southwest of the Dogon. They are
dignified people, proud of their warlike past. Nowadays they live principally from
agriculture, with some subsidiary hunting and cattle rearing in the northern part of their
territory. They strongly uphold their ancient tribal customs against Islam and
Christianity. This is a hyena mask used by the initiation Kore society. The Kore
society is a rigidly stratified male initiation group that seeks to bring men to piece
with their spirits. Its members achieved a degree of spiritual knowledge that enabled them
to experience a mystic union with divine power and enter a perpetual cycle of
reincarnation. The hyena was the societys guardian animal. It symbolizes fallible
human wisdom. The masks of this type were used both at initiations and at agricultural
festivities, in supplications for the fecundity of the earth and sometimes for rain.
Material: wood
Size: H. 20, W. 7, D. 7