250125 - Old Mende Sowei Sande Society Mask - Sierra Leone.

Old African Mende Sowei Sande Society Mask from Sierra Leone.
Height; 37 cm. x 30 cm wide.
Hand carved from a single piece of wood and and collected in the mid of the 20th century and with Certificate of Authenticity.

Sowei Sande helmet mask - Mende Gola - Sierra Leone
The Sandé women's society among the Mendé is not the only female initiation society in West Africa.
Among the Sénoufo, near the powerful Poro, lives the Typka society, led by women.
They are responsible for the initiation of young girls and are noticed during funerals, while during ceremonies they carry images on their heads that represent a woman or motherhood.
The Sandé, on the other hand, are unique: they are the only female society in West Africa that wears masks, the famous mask helmets that make up the Sowei.

Masks very remarkable because of their neck folds.
Sowei masks represent an ideal of feminine beauty for the Mendé.
However, fat folds are an important feature of beauty for all West African cultures (and more generally in Africa).
The fluted neck is therefore the characteristic of these fat folds, a reference to the abundance and fertility of women.
These are real and important signs of beauty
Very concretely: when young girls retreat to the forest for three months, they undergo real fattening rituals, among other things. We make them eat more than necessary to at least get a double chin!

More poetically, different interpretations have been given to these folds: Reference to the chrysalis of the butterfly since the passage through initiation transforms the young girl into a woman...
Reference to the wave that propagates on the surface of the water when the water spirit of Sowei appears, that is to say when the women of Sandé dance....
Yet above the folds, the mouth is closed, the almond-shaped eyes are also closed, a reference to the world of spirits but also an attitude of humility and restraint expected of future women...
These masks were generally used on the occasion of the most solemn festivals or during the exercise of justice.
Funeral ceremonies and initiations giving access to the Sandé society. During initiation, women of high rank in society use these decorations to welcome the youngest at the end of a three-month retreat in the forest. A long costume completes the mask and serves to hide the entire body.
This mask represents the spirit of fertility and embodies the feminine waters. The characteristic features of this type of mask are always feminine, even when they embody a male spirit