Antelope mask, Kasiyamaliro
date: label: Accession Date
content: 30 May 1990
label: Collection Date
content: November, 1985
name: label: Collector
content: Laurel Faulkner
label: Collector
content: Scott Faulkner
label: Donor Name
content: Laurel Faulkner
notes: label: Notes
content: GENERAL ELLIPTICAL SHAPE WITH TOP SECTION SEPARATING INTO TWO "CONE" OR "HORN" SHAPES WHICH ARE THEN PULLED TOGETHER AT THE TOP AND FASTENED. SEVERAL APPENDAGES, ALSO MADE OF CORN HUSK, EXTEND FROM THE TOP. HOLLOW INSIDE, OPEN AT THE BOTTOM. TWO SMALL OPENINGS (6 CM X 5 CM) AT APPROXIMATELY EYE LEVEL, ONE AT THE END AND ONE IN CENTER OF ONE SIDE. USED IN NYAU SOCIETY MEN'S INITIATION CEREMONY. MADE FOR USE AND USED WHEN COLLECTED. SEE ALSO ACCESSION 400186, CATALOG NUMBER 428802 FOR SIMILAR MASK ALSO COLLECTED BY THE DONORS IN 1985.
label: Notes
content: Antelope Mask, or Kasiyamaliro, from the Chewa people of Malawi. Among the Chewa, animal masks are worn to perform ritual dances during funerals. The final dance of the antelope mask, called Kasiyamaliro, or "Let's Stop the Funeral," signals the return of well-being to the community as the deceased's spirit enters the world of the ancestors. On display in African Voices, an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., 1999.
label: Notes
content: From African Voices exhibit: "Corn husk masks are regularly burned at the end of ceremonies, but elders gave their permission for this mask to be taken from the village."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 19 Aug 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Malawi, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chewa
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 373869
label: USNM Number
content: E425720-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 259 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 140 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 100 cm