The Second Face
Makonde Facemasks
“The masks are living beings as we are; they suffer, laugh, cry and dance as we do. However, they are not human beings but spirits from the Other World” (Bá-omo, head of the masks from Burkina Faso, from "Die Regenmacher, T. & G. Baldizzone, 2003).
The three Makonde facemasks represent a female, a male and a hybrid creature (human with animal ears). The masks are held in place by a piece of cloth attached to the edges of the mask.
The female mask is adorned with delicate rows of holes (tattoo patterns), a broad lip plug worn by elder women and holes for earrings on the earlobes.
In the middle, a mask colored with red ochre. From the heart-shaped face, nose and upper lip with a small lip plug as worn by young girls. The eyelashes are made of animal hair; from the sides protrude spoon-shaped ears.
The third mask represents a male face.
The masks, even the animal masks, represent nature and ancestor's spirits; they are worshipped and dreaded. The combination of human and animal features (spoon-shaped ears) increases the power of the mask. The dancers, even the female masks, are young men. They fulfill ritual and educational tasks; they educate, threaten and criticize.
The mask performance is still in place today at the joint closing ceremony of boy and girl's initiation. The initiates, which were in the past separated for months (today during the long school holidays) from their parents, are from now on full adult members of society. However, the mask dances lost most of their former mystical solemnity.
