Kanaga mask
The Kanaga mask is a mask of the Dogon of Mali traditionally worn by members of the male Awa Society during a ceremony called the dama.[1] The dama is performed, months or even years after a person has died, in order to send their soul to the world of the dead.[2] The Kanaga mask is one of the most popular of the many types of masks used during a dama; in 1935, French anthropologist Marcel Griaule, counted 29 out of 74 masks at one such ceremony as being of the Kanaga type.[2]
Description
[edit]The base wooden mask is worn on the face and is topped with a tall, two-barred cross,[1] with the wooden crossbars being of equal length The lower of the two has its ends pointing down, while the upper has its ends pointing up.[1] The entire mask can be over 3 feet (0.91 m) tall; the dimensions of one example are 43 1/16 × 24 3/8 × 6 15/16 inches (109.3 × 61.9 × 17.7 cm).[3]
The shape of the mask may represent various animal subjects: the kommolo tebu (a bird),[4] the lizard, the iguana, the barâmkamza dullogu (a water insect), the hand of God or the female spirit of the trees (gyinu ya).[5] The mask is presented in male and female forms, the male version being the most numerous.[6]
Symbolism
[edit]The cross has two meanings. First, it represents the arms and legs of the creator god Amma.[3] Second, it shows the arrangement of the universe, with the lower cross signifying the earth, and the upper the heavens[1][2] or the sky.[3]
On flags
[edit]The Kanaga mask is represented on the flags of French Sudan (1892–1958), the ephemeral Republic of Sudan (1958–1959) and the short-lived Federation of Mali (1959–1960), which joined Senegal and the Sudanese Republic, formerly French Sudan.
Gallery
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Flag of French Sudan -
Flag of Mali Federation (1959-1961)
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References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Dogon Mask". Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology, Wake Forest University. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "Imina kanaga (kanaga face mask)". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
- ^ a b c "Mask (Kanaga)". Yale University Art Gallery. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
- ^ Marcel Griaule, Masques dogons, 1938 doctoral thesis (in French)
- ^ Dogon… mais encore, Département d'Ethnologie, Université de Strasbourg [1] Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
- ^ Imperato, Pascal James (cont. Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum), The Cultural Heritage of Africa, Safari Museum Press (1974), pp. 28-29
Bibliography
[edit]- Marcel Griaule et Germaine Dieterlen, Le renard pâle : 1 Le Mythe cosmogonique, fasc. 1 La création du monde, Institut d'Ethnologie, Paris, 1991 (rééd.), p. 171-172
- Nadine Martinez, Écritures africaines: esthétique et fonction des écritures Dogon, Bamana et Sénoufo, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2010, 272 p. ISBN 9782296117341
- Famedji-Koto Tchimou, Langage de la danse chez les Dogons, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1995, 174 p. ISBN 9782296294660