Antelope Headdress
This class of small painted antelope headdresses probably belong to the Bobo, or possibly the Gurunsi; they are used in agrarian rites.
Living in a region of dry savannas where harvests depend on rainfall, the Bobo instituted a series of purification rituals in order to reconcile themselves with nature. At the end of the dry season and before the work of cultivation begins, purification ceremonies take place, using masks of leaves, of fiber and wood, which may represent Dwo (a deity considered to be the intermediary between humankind and the creator) or protective spirits: a warthog, male buffalo with flat horns, rooster with its crest standing perpendicular to its face, toucan, fish, antelope, serpent, and hawk. All of them incarnate the forces of fertility, fecundity, and growth.
This class of small painted antelope headdresses probably belong to the Bobo, or possibly the Gurunsi; they are used in agrarian rites.
Living in a region of dry savannas where harvests depend on rainfall, the Bobo instituted a series of purification rituals in order to reconcile themselves with nature. At the end of the dry season and before the work of cultivation begins, purification ceremonies take place, using masks of leaves, of fiber and wood, which may represent Dwo (a deity considered to be the intermediary between humankind and the creator) or protective spirits: a warthog, male buffalo with flat horns, rooster with its crest standing perpendicular to its face, toucan, fish, antelope, serpent, and hawk. All of them incarnate the forces of fertility, fecundity, and growth.
This class of small painted antelope headdresses probably belong to the Bobo, or possibly the Gurunsi; they are used in agrarian rites.
Living in a region of dry savannas where harvests depend on rainfall, the Bobo instituted a series of purification rituals in order to reconcile themselves with nature. At the end of the dry season and before the work of cultivation begins, purification ceremonies take place, using masks of leaves, of fiber and wood, which may represent Dwo (a deity considered to be the intermediary between humankind and the creator) or protective spirits: a warthog, male buffalo with flat horns, rooster with its crest standing perpendicular to its face, toucan, fish, antelope, serpent, and hawk. All of them incarnate the forces of fertility, fecundity, and growth.
Tribe: Bobo
Country: Burkina Faso
Age: >70
Height: 24 in.
Width: 17in.