Masks play a vital part
in the spiritual and cultural life of South Africans
and will form an important part of the curriculum for
pupils at St Luke's and Exeter's Central Middle school,
via a CD Rom made for use in schools.
"The
mask is not a static, inanimate object adorning a wall,
but it personifies life in myth and dance.
The mask
is the personification of a supernatural creature. The
spirit comes alive through the mask and the dance -
a moral code, teaching laws to the people. Masks are
used for all different kinds of rites and festivals,
but three main stages are significant; however, this
is not an exclusive list.
Fertility
rites occur at the end of the harvest to give
thanks, and to ask for abundant crops next year. They
also relate to fertility and new generations for the
tribe. There are other masks which take on the personalities
of the tribe, like the black polished mask, which gives
opportunities for the dancer to impersonate someone.
There are
impressive masks for initiation rites.
This period was crucial for all adolescents. Some tribes
had rites applicable to both sexes, other tribes had
separate rites for female and male adolescents.
Other initiation
masks belong to secret brotherhoods which allowed people
to aspire to higher ranks within a brotherhood or at
funeral ceremonies.
The social
ethos of the mask is important in laying the foundation
laws for its society. Behaviour of the tribe is watched
and ruled by the mask, which was also the protector
for many societies.
Death in
African culture is the death of the body, but the spirit
and soul lives on. The mask is worn by the dancer at
a funeral rite. The dead man's spirit
will not attack the dancer in the mask. Some masks are
used to help the journey of the soul progress to the
next world.
The mask
offered 'Black Africa' a path to the world of the supernatural
which could be connected through the dynamic dance
and
myth, wherein the society could experience the emotions
of this sacred world."
Source 'Black Africa' by
Laurie Mayer
Sandra Barrett
