Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

  • Data
  • Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Wood mask. Wide incised strips have been carved diagonally over the face and in half circle patterns across the forehead. These have been filled with white lime, creating a striped pattern. From a squared chin, the face flares slightly toward the wide, rounded forehead. Down the centre of forehead is a line that meets the nose, and off of which are carved the eyebrows. Nose widens toward bottom. Eyes are thin slits cut through the wood, with large rounded eyelids above. Mouth is a protruding cube, with lime colouring the centre. Around the edge of the mask are bored five small holes, similar in size, evenly spaced. The back of mask is concave and undecorated.

History Of Use

Female kifwebe mask used and made by the bwadi bwa kifwebe society. The bwadi are a group of mystics that use masks as mediums to harness and display buchi or masende to exercise control over social tensions and retain allegiance to political leaders. Buci, or witchcraft, is an internal force that resides in the heart and stomach; masende, or sorcery, is an external force that rests in the eyes. Buci is an inherited mystical power, while masende is learned and accessible to everyone. These masks have no magical power; the bwadi who wears and uses the mask imbues it with mystical power. Kifwebe masks are traditionally carved around the time a new chief is ritually installed or when the community goes out for hunts. The carvers are called kihanga or kilongo and they traditionally make the masks out of kifwenkese and kicipicipi wood, as they have mystic properties. The masks are made in an uninhabited area, instead of in the village, as the creation of the masks is only for the carver or bwadi bwa kifwebe society members to see. Kifwebe masks can be male or female, and are performed in rituals. Male masks demonstrate and assert power through erratic movements and boisterous displays of strength; female masks emphasize fluid motions and footwork. The male masks generate magical force in relation to disorder and change, whereas the female mask appeals to the goodwill of the ancestral spirits through dance. Female masks, as a result, allow the user to contact ancestral spirits.

Iconographic Meaning

Colour symbolizes whether a mask is male or female; a dark coloured mask is male and a white mask is female. The crest of the mask indicates the level of the wearer's magical skill and experience. Based on cube shape of mouth, mask was carved under the "Mussolini" style.

Item History

With an account, you can ask other users a question about this item. Request an Account

With an account, you can submit information about this item and have it visible to all users and institutions on the RRN. Request an Account

Similar Items