Bwa Mask performance, leaves, wild vines and, eagle's feathers
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http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/Burkina_mask_catalogue/index.htm
Videos of Art and Life in Africa
by Christopher D. Roy, The University of Iowa
http://tammy-a.blogspot.com/
Videos of Art and Life in Africa
by Christopher D. Roy, The University of Iowa
http://tammy-a.blogspot.com/
African leaf masks for Do (the God of the wilderness/ springtime) at a funeral performance in the Bwa village of Boni, Burkina Faso. A group of Bwa men make both masks of leaves shaped to represent the Do, and the wooden masks. The leaf masks represent the God of springtime, and perform only for one day, after which they are destroyed. Leaf masks are made of wild vines that are wrapped around the body tightly enough that the costume will not slip, but loosely enough that the performer's movements will not be restricted. To this wrapping of vines are bound small bundles of green leaves so that every inch of the human body is concealed. A crest of dried grasses called bwosonu (Loudetia togoensis) is bound to the head, or in some villages may be made of white "eagle" feathers gathered in the bush . Bwa oral traditions make it clear that the use of leaf masks representing Do is a very ancient practice and that originally all Bwa clans were adherents of Do and used leaf masks. Clans that use the bieni leaf masks state emphatically that those who use wooden nwamba masks have borrowed the practice from the Nunuma and Winiama to the east, and from the Bobo to the west.