MENDE - BUNDU - SOWEI HELMET MASK ( Sierra leone )
Late 20th century
Late 20th century
MENDE - BUNDU - SOWEI HELMET MASK .
The Mende culture is primarily found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, western Guinea and Mali. Secret societies
among the Mende are called Poro, which means "laws of ancestor spirits, thereby imparting power to the
Poro from ancestor spirits. The Poro duties include settling disputes, controlling fishing and harvesting,
and regulating the economy and trading. Other societies within the Mende are responsible for military
training, agricultural fertility, general education, sexual conduct, and medical and social services. The
Mende women belong to a secret society called Sande which is primarily responsible for training
young girls for the adult roles they will soon encounter. Mende girls are instructed in child care,
homemaking, sexual matters abed the proper attitude towards husbands and authority. Mende boys
are instructed in road maintenance, clearing land for agriculture, bridge and trap making, basketry and
weaving, traditional law and custom, and the art of enduring hardship and pain. Secret societies
dominate the lives of traditional West Africans and serve to establish social, political, economic, and
artistic rules that solidify and unite the culture.
The Sande society uses the word ''Sowei'' to represent the personification of the society's spirit,
medicine, and the most important masked dancer. The Sowei is present at initiation school, brings male
offenders to justice, and is the chief mourner at funerals for Sande officials. Sowei mask are kept in
special enclosures called Kende where the mask attendant keeps medicine and masks.
The Mende culture is primarily found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, western Guinea and Mali. Secret societies
among the Mende are called Poro, which means "laws of ancestor spirits, thereby imparting power to the
Poro from ancestor spirits. The Poro duties include settling disputes, controlling fishing and harvesting,
and regulating the economy and trading. Other societies within the Mende are responsible for military
training, agricultural fertility, general education, sexual conduct, and medical and social services. The
Mende women belong to a secret society called Sande which is primarily responsible for training
young girls for the adult roles they will soon encounter. Mende girls are instructed in child care,
homemaking, sexual matters abed the proper attitude towards husbands and authority. Mende boys
are instructed in road maintenance, clearing land for agriculture, bridge and trap making, basketry and
weaving, traditional law and custom, and the art of enduring hardship and pain. Secret societies
dominate the lives of traditional West Africans and serve to establish social, political, economic, and
artistic rules that solidify and unite the culture.
The Sande society uses the word ''Sowei'' to represent the personification of the society's spirit,
medicine, and the most important masked dancer. The Sowei is present at initiation school, brings male
offenders to justice, and is the chief mourner at funerals for Sande officials. Sowei mask are kept in
special enclosures called Kende where the mask attendant keeps medicine and masks.