Shark Headdress

Item number 2736/5 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Hammerhead shark headdress consisting of curved crown-like wood head piece with small carved hammerhead shark facing forward from on top of a grass pompom with dangling red ribbons. Long strands of brown grass hang down in two thick bunches from grass pompoms at the base of the wood and a goat ? horn projects out to each side. Carved and painted designs in white, red and black decorate the wood on both sides and a grass rope head strap is knotted through a hole below the shark to form a head strap.

History Of Use

Bijogo society is stratified into seven age grades, at least four of which are associated with specific masquerades. These crested head pieces, sometimes including the head of a long-horned bush cow or the snout of a hammer-head shark in their centre, are worn by young boys in the first and second age grades, gn’opara. Only by completing the full cycle of initiation are deceased adults able to avoid becoming wandering spirits and unify themselves with the creator deity, Nindut.