MENDE - BUNDU - SOWEI HELMET MASK ( Sierra Leone )
Mid 20th century
Mid 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.