Helmet mask, Chamba; Nigeria
Wood, pigments; L. 24 1/2"
Straddling the Nigeria/Cameroon borderlands,
Chamba matriclans sponsor a masquerade that incorporates
both the ancestral dead and aspects of wild nature.
This takes place on the occasion of a chief's installation
to office, then again for coming-to-manhood ceremonies
that involve circumcision of the young men, and
lastly at mourning festivals at the death of a prominent
individual. The masked individual is always preceded
by a custodian who strikes a metal gong. Some masks
are colored red in reference to their maleness and
possibly associated with the blood of the hunt,
while others are painted black in reference to dangers
of the night and witches and bear female associations.
A few examples, such as this black and white colored
mask, present a composite. The wooden headpiece
bears the horns of a wild bushcow, the maw of a
crocodile, monster of the water, while the ears,
nose, and cranial dome take on a human aspect.
Among the Chamba, a legend is told
of a hunter who saw a herd of bushcows shed their
skins and take on human form when washing in the
river. His attention became fixated on one particular
young woman in the group. When the beautiful creature
was not looking, he quickly hid her cowhide so that
later she was unable to return to the herd. Finding
her alone, he confronted her and asked that she
be his wife. Reluctantly, the cow-woman agreed to
marry but only if the hunter kept secret her origin.
Years passed, and they lived happily, and eventually
a son and daughter were born to them. Yet one day,
while celebrating with friends, the hunter became
drunk and revealed the family secret. In anger,
the wife and son resumed the form of wild bush cattle,
impaled him with their horns, and then rushed off
to live in the bush. The daughter, however, refused
to seek vengeance upon her father, retained her
human form, and eventually became the ancestress
of the Chamba matriclans (from Richard Fardon,
Between God, the Dead and the Wild, Chamba Interpretations
of Ritual and Religion, 1976:78, 84).
