BAMANA HEAD CREST FOR CHI WARA ASSOCIATION. (MALI, WESTERN AFRICA)...

Description

BAMANA HEAD CREST FOR CHI WARA ASSOCIATION
(MALI, WESTERN AFRICA)

The Chi Wara association is a male initiatory society which teaches members social values and agricultural techniques. In the past field preparation and other agricultural work coincided with ceremonies which celebrated Chi Wara, a mythic creature who first taught man farming. These ceremonies honored farmers and acknowledged the crucial nature of their work. Wooden crests worn by paired maskers, one depicting a male antelope and the other a female, preserved the memory of the beast and served as emblems of the association. The paired maskers dance bent-over with animal-like movements. Each carries two sticks in his hands in simulation of antelopes forelegs, and perhaps as an allusion to Chi Wara's original digging sticks.

This finely cared crest depicts an aardvark, an animal sometimes used instead of an antelope, The aardvark imitates digging sticks of a farmer as it digs with his powerful front claws and intrusive snout into the earth looking for food. This unusual animal is sometimes referred to as the African anteater, although it is not related to that South American animal. The horns and ears issuing from the back of the aardvark are those of an antelope. The human figure female figure symbolizing feminity. The cloth covered basketry cap shows considerable wear, and there is evidence of surface handling on the wooden crest; some holes on the back ears broken.

Dimensions: figure, 18 ½ inches; with bottom 22 inches

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