Dance Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Nov 1899
name: label: Collector
content: Rev. Samuel P. Verner
label: Donor Name
content: Rev. Samuel P. Verner
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "HOLLOWED OUT FROM A SINGLE LOG. CARVED IN A HIDEOUS REPRESENTATION OF A FACE, DECORATED WITH BEADS, SHELLS, SEEDS, AND SHEET COPPER AND BRASS. NEG. NO. E7-10. IDENTIFIED AS BAKUBA BY WM. FAGG 3-5-64. HE CALLED IT A BOMBO TYPE." LOANED TO RENWICK 7/1/81. RETURNED 1983. NEG. #S: 81-3317-17 BW. 81-3345 CS. ILLUS.: P.65, P1.27, "CELEBRATIONS" CATALOGUE, SMITHSONIAN PRESS, 1982. HELMET MASKS. DURING INITIATION CEREMONIES FOR KUBA YOUTHS IN ZAIRE, THREE MASKERS PERFORMED A DANCE ACTING OUT A LOVE TRIANGLE. THE MASKERS REPRESENTED THREE OF THE MAIN FIGURES IN KUBA MYTHOLOGY-MWAASH A MBOOY, AN IDEALIZED KING AND SON OF A KUBA CULTURE HERO; NGAADY A MWAASH (NOT DISPLAYED), HIS SISTER AND INCESTUOUS WIFE; AND BWOOM, A PYGMY AND COMMON VILLAGER. THE DANCE OF THE THREE MASKS DRAMATIZED THE RIVALRY BETWEEN KING AND COMMONER FOR THE LOVE OF THE KING'S SISTER. THESE MASKS MIGHT ALSO HAVE BEEN MOUNTED ATOP A WALL IN THE INITIATION ENCLOSURE. THERE THEY WOULD HAVE PRESIDED OVER THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTHS IN THE KUBA SYSTEM OF POLITICS AND CORRECT SOCIAL BEHAVIOR. HELMET MASK (REPRESENTS BWOOM),CA.1850-1900 KUBA PEOPLE; ZAIRE WOOD, COPPER SHEET, CERAMIC AND GLASS BEADS, STRING, IRON WIRE, TREE SEEDS, VIVERRINE FUR, BRASS, RAFFIA CLOTH, COWRIE SHELLS, EUROPEAN CLOTH, LAUNDRY BLUEING. 13 5/8 x 9 3/4 x 12 (34.6 x 24.7 x 30.5) NMNH 204462"
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Kasai River (upper), Democratic Republic of the Congo (not certain) / Angola (not certain), Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Kuba
label: Culture
content: (Ba Kuba)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 035839
label: USNM Number
content: E204462-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 34.6 cm
label: Width
content: 24.7 cm
label: Height
content: 30.5 cm