Masquerade in Mende culture

Public masquerades play an extremely significant role in the life of the Mende people - one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone.

Through masking performances, the public is kept informed of important events which occur in the private domain and is enabled to witness and to share in rituals that transform the status of relatives and friends.

At the same time participants and audience drawn into a common sphere of performance, aesthetically heightened by theater, music and dance.

Hale, meaning "medicine," is believed to be a material substance found in nature that has powerful inherent properties that the officials of Mende secret societies know how to manipulate.

[1] The standard set of Mende maskers includes about a dozen personalities embodying spirits of varying degrees of power and importance.

Another group of maskers, including the male gongoli and the female gonde and samawa, are clownlike figures that feature in performances characterized by humor, satire and parody.

Several flaps that are similarly decorated hang down from the base of the headpiece and overlap the raffia cape which covers much of the wearer's torso.

The irreducible elements of sowei are a helmet form, lustrous blackness, beautifully arranged hair, downcast eyes, a closed mouth and an expression of inner spiritual concentration.

Helmet Mask (ndoli jowei) for Sande Society, from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Gbini Mask, Mende (Wood, leopard skin, sheepskin, antelope skin, raffia fiber, cotton cloth, cotton string, cowry shells), from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Helmet Mask (ndoli jowei) for Sande Society, from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Helmet Mask (Zogbe) for Sande Society, from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum