Wurkun

The people Wurkun is implanted in northern Nigeria, at the western end of Muri Mountains, a great mountain range of 100 X 20 kms. on whose sides a large number of ethnic groups are located, and along the valley called Middle and Upper Benué. In reality the real name, although already in disuse is Kulung, the term of its neighbors Jukun meaning “people of the hills”. It is the term applied to the different villages that inhabited the old Workun district, such as the Kulung, Piya, Kwonci and others. The Jukung language would belong to the Jarawan Bantu group. They live in an area, for example the State of Taraba, where ethnic-religious conflicts are frequent since 1991, with the disappearance of the state of Gongola (now Taraba), as the Wurkun against the Fulani or Peul in 1999In Taraba there are a wide variety of ethnic groups, Mumuye, Ichen, Wurkun, MambilaKuteb, Chamba, Jukun, Tivun, Yandang, Fulani, Jenjo, Kunini, Ndoro , Kambu, Kaká, Bandawa, Munga, Zo and Banbuka not counting the Igbo and the YorubaArmed attacks, among different ethnic groups, are also frequent in this State, many of them by Boko Haram. But the conflicts between all these peoples were numerous long before Nigeria's independence 1960Although most of these peoples have been converted for decades to Christianity or Islam, they continue with some of their animistic practices. The works of art of these peoples are all very similar and often intermingled styles appear, making it difficult to catalogue a particular origin. In addition to its anthropomorphic cylindrical statuettes, which represent ancestors, civilizing heroes or nature spirits, with outlined arms and often lack of legs. They make shoulder s mask and large vertical masks, difficult to carry, unless they behave like hybrid horizontal statues and masks, with human and animal features. Normally the heads of these figures, masks or statues, end up in the form of a crest. Most of these works are designed to cure and protect against all kinds of ills and diseases. The masks were used in funerals, initiation of young people, ritual dances and fertility rites of the fields.