Mscara Kifwebé Kikashi

Used by the society of initiates Bwadi Bwa Kifwebé is the best known mask, in its male and female versions. Kifwebé means simply “mask”, mask used by Bwadi society Bwa who exercised a religious and political power and was responsible for the social order. In the past, he was also involved in wars. The masks are normally carved in light wood. The face is surmounted by linear, parallel scarifications, dominating the red and white, the white color meaning purity. They represent the paths taken by the founding spirits of the secret Bukishi society. This society is responsible for providing its members with moral and social education, since it assumes political and social control over the village. The mouth is rectangular, the nose elongated and triangular. The female mask, which is named after Kikashi, presents a rounded and smooth skull while the male one carries a crest more or less large that goes down from the skull and melts with the nose.

They are masks that appear in circumcision ceremonies, initiations, name impositions, burials and funerals. They are also manifested in night dances dedicated to honoring lunar deities. These masks embody supernatural beings that can favor or harm people.

The male mask represents strength, power and female fertility. Both masks are always worn by men although they appear by couples in dances.

Mask that offers several particularities regarding most kifwebé masks. among others his sculptor seems to have received the influence of the Mbole along the north and the Luba on the south, because in this mask there are characteristics of both ethnicities. The sagittal line that divides the face into two and one of whose parts is not striated offers a difficulty of interpretation. Another particularity is its color, brown, earth color, as if it were a mask dedicated to the worship of the earth. His mouth almost pointed instead of his usual rectangular mouth. The eyes round and not torn and globular. These differences make this mask practically a unique mask in its kind. It belonged to the private collection of the father of the Senegalese antiquarian Mamadou Marema Diop, son and grandson of antiquarians.