My First Visit

Upon my first visit to Umuofia I was placed next to the Christian Misson as an OSU (untouchable) or one who was diseased in the book, Things Fall Apart. When I looked further into the place I came across this picture (<--), with the description being that this is a masked man protesting the Christian Misson. At first glance he looks unintimidatin and almost friendly but after I looked at the mask for a while I started to notice the patterns. Doing further research into the patterns on the mask I found that most african masks have similar patterns on them. According to African Masks, most patterns on masks are symmetrical and are used as coded information. zigzag, cruciform, and spiral lines denote social status or have some belief to hold religious or magical powers.

Anoter website detailed that African masks are danced to make a connection between the human and spirit worlds, usually to reinforce social controls and relgious beliefs. There are many types of masks ranging from depiction of woman, royalty and animals. I can't figure out how to load video but I found a Youtube broadcast that was pretty cool, featuring African dancers with their masks. So here's the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eckCUEo0jHw&feature=related

Reading the different meanings and social issues behind masks had me relating these to that of English masquerades. In this celebration people put masks on to hide their true identity and be a "different person" for the night. Some masks have special meanings and give away certain physical attributes, but none are as intricate as African masks. Africans use their masks for almost every celebration, ceremony and community hearing they have.

This particular mask in the picture reminded me of one that an elder would be wearing at the clan hearings. There are only small slits to see through and other than their body, you cannot tell any facial features on the person. The patterns are sort of familiar to that of a cat's whiskers and a goat's horns, so it could be an animal mask as well as a gods.