Masks in African Culture

Hey dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that was full of interesting experiences! In this post, I would like to talk a little about African culture and hope you can expand your knowledge.

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph some traditional African masks and I would like to talk a little about the history and meaning of this art form. Across the African continent you will find numerous tribes, some of which have their own masks which are of great importance for cultural purposes and this art form is very respected and has a long tradition behind it and for the production the artists use a wide variety of materials such as wood, metal, fabric and many more. Typical characteristics are the abstract shapes or paintings as well as long or wide faces which seem very expressive and often the artists have a mythological or spiritual background when creating and the masks are particularly often worn during different ceremonial events. The masks often have a high spiritual value and there is also sometimes the belief that a ghost would sit in the mask and if you wear the mask it could merge with one, but there are different beliefs in the different tribes and often the masks are worn for weddings, birthdays, funeral festivals, weather dances or occult rites and the masks that are seen in the pictures are probably linked to the Yoruba in Nigeria. With the Yoruba, masks are an important symbol to express authority and are often worn to traditional dances, which are often accompanied by music and they are worn especially on ritual occasions such as festivities and are traditionally carved out of wood.

It often happens in some tribes that the masks are decorated with animal characteristics such as horns and masks are also considered as protection against negative influences or diseases and are also linked to contact with higher worlds and are often of great importance in order to reach spiritual knowledge. Not everywhere you can find masks in Africa and in some areas such as the eastern part there are few tribes which are using them and in addition it happened that over the decades the culture has changed so much that the traditional rituals to which masks often belonged have moved into the background or are completely extinct. It can be said that masks are always strongly linked to certain religions and the masks are often combined with other objects and clothes for ceremonial events. The masks are made in such a way that they should express special feelings that fit the respective occasion and African artists are often taught in this field from an early age and knowledge usually remains a secret of the family and in addition to the knowledge in the production, the artist also needs a broad knowledge when it comes to mythology or symbolism. Some masks are also specially made for military confrontation and here are particularly protection as well as attack masks in the foreground and due to the diversity and different tribes, the creativity has almost no limits and it can be said that masks are of a particularly high importance in Africa.

Thanks a lot for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about African culture! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.