Loniaké mask

The mask, called Loniaké, is made from a wooden plate, away from the eyes of young women and young women, as well as women who have not yet been mothers, as their eyesight would expose them to definitive infertility. Only the elderly and adults can see the mask outside the funerals and also the women of blacksmiths, in principle the pottery, who are in charge of procuring the water rations due to the mask. After the ceremonies the mask is jealously guarded by the remarkable appointed to such a need. They are protective masks of childhood, crops and the health of families.

In addition to participating in funerals and more funeral rites, they participate in the initiation of adolescents and are responsible for monitoring social harmony in the village.

The masks loniake are constructed from a rectangular wooden plate bordered by fringes and topped by one or two bird heads, specifically the calao or sometimes a pair of horns. The calao is the primordial bird of the Senufo, protector par excellence and sacred bird of the society of the pore. The open wings of the calao are a symbol of protection and its beak is a phallic image. It is associated with the notion of procreation. It is also the symbol of the word and divinity. It announces the time of sowing. As this date approaches, it is heard singing, but it sings and flies, normally, from the west to the east. The Muslims, who are the majority in this area, associate this flight with the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Sudanese legends say that the calao is deaf mute and represents the village chief and therefore has a divine character since the chief is also a symbol of God. The world is the people of God and, by this logic, the head of the village is at the same time the head of the world. The deaf muteness of the calao and the village chief indicate the silence that God sometimes observes with those who turn to Him.

The side holes are intended to carry fringes of vegetable fibers. And usually eye holes are usually surrounded by red seeds. This mask has a large drawing that seems to correspond to an antelope represented with a long neck and a thick tail. It had apparently been clad, at least in part, with a thick blue pigment, difficult to define.