Taking place on August 2 will be another Africa Night event. This time we will be celebrating Ivory Coast. Between now and then, we will share a bit about the country leading up to the day of the event. If you have any questions, or if you simply wish to add to the knowledge being shared, please feel free to comment and do join us on the day. To start off the dialogue, we will look at what masks represent in Ivory Coast as they are, like a few other African countries, a prevalent art form in Ivory Coast. African masks very often appear as part of museum exhibitions, but really in order to appreciate African masks, as they were meant to be seen, they should be seen as integral to the religious and spiritual life of the village. The variety and intricacy of masks created by the people of Ivory Coast is rivaled by none. Masks have many purposes. They are used mostly for representative reasons; they can symbolize lesser deities, the souls of the deceased, and even caricatures of animals. They are considered sacred and very dangerous; as such, only certain powerful individuals and families are permitted to own them, and only specially-trained individuals may wear the masks. It is held to be dangerous for others to wear ceremonial masks, because it is believed that each mask has a soul, or life force, and that when a persons face comes in contact with the inside of the mask, the person is transformed into the entity the mask represents.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 03:16:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015