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Deprived of their costumes, adornments, torchlight and rhythmic movements, the "masks" are no longer what they were when they danced in their original context; in the museum they become mere fragments. But they escape from their dry ethnic classification to conjure up some of the great cults of sub-Saharan Africa which have existed alongside Islam since the eleventh century.
Whether they are related to entertainment – like the portrait masks – initiation or anti-witchcraft rituals, masks always have a social function. When they come out in public, there is great excitement because they act out the social order, under the direction of the masters of the ritual, to remind everyone of their role in the hierarchy. All the villagers go to see the performance or behave in the manner that befits their status: hide, run away, help and serve the masks, answer them back, ask for their blessing.
© 2021 Musée d'ethnographie, Genève
