Bobo Bird Mask - Ghana

Bobo Bird Mask - 40" H - Ghana

Size and pattern may vary.

The Bobo masks are used in their southern villages during family and divination ceremonies. The Bobo seek help from the Do, the powerful spirit of nature and they believe that by doming on the mask they can invoke this spirit and enlist its help against the power of destruction. The Bobo plank mask or Bwa mask are also said to bring favor and good fortunes to the families that own them. The Bobo live in densely populated villages and their story of creation tells of how their creator god Wuro created harmonious order among the sun, rain, and earth but how man unbalanced the equilibrium with agricultural techniques, which were a violation of the earth. These actions angered the god of earth Soko who was the god of mountain and through him the creator Wuro. The myth goes onto say that Wuro gave same of his power to Do who acted as a mediator between man and god in order to restore the equilibrium. One of the rituals performed involves a dance by the bull rarer who wears the mask in front of his face attached by a thick rope, which he holds in his mouth. The dancer who put the Bobo plank mask (Bwa mask) through dance invokes the spirit of the Do to obtain continuous fertility of the land and the people.