HISTORY OF
THE FANG MASK
African Art of
the Fang tribe
The fang people are spread over a vast
area along the Atlantic coast line of
equatorial Africa and can be found in
Cameroon equatorial Guinea and Gabon
namely along the bank of the Ogowe river.
The Fang people used masks in their
secret societies. Members of this male
society wore the Ngil masks (picture to
the left) during the initiation of new
members and the persecution of
wrongdoers. Masqueraders, clad in raffia
costumes and attended by helpers, would
materialize in the village after dark,
illuminated by flickering torchlight.
Fang masks, such as those worn by
itinerant troubadours and for hunting and
punishing sorcerers, are painted white
with facial features outlined in black.
Typical are large, elongated masks
covered with kaolin and featuring a face
that was usually heart-shaped with a
long, fine nose. Apparently it have been
linked with the dead, since white is
their color. The Ngontang dance society
also used white masks, sometimes in the
form of a four-sided helmet-mask with
bulging forehead and eyebrows in
heart-shaped arcs.
The So, or red antelope, was connected
with initiation that lasted several
months, the masks used during this ritual
had long horns. Passport masks, were
attached to arms of the maskers.
This great rain forest region in the Fang
territory is a plateau of middle
altitude, with innumerable waters with
falls and rapids rendering navigation for
the most part impossible, and with a
climate typically equatorial.
Fang are principally hunters but also
agriculturists. Their social structure is
based on a clan, a group of individuals
with a common ancestor. The ensemble of
Fang peoples practice a cult devoted to
ancestor lineages, the bieri, whose aim
is to both protect themselves from the
deceased and to recruit and aid in
matters of daily life. This familial cult
does not monopolize the Fangs
religious universe, for it coexists with
other beliefs and rituals of a more
collective character.
The bieri, gave rise to remarkable wooden
sculpture. The bieri, or ancestor figure,
would be consulted when the village was
to change location, or when a new crop
was planted, during a palaver, or before
going hunting, fishing, or to war. But
once separated from the reliquary chest,
the sculpted object would lose its sacred
value and could be destroyed. The ritual
consisted of prayers, libations, and
sacrifices offered to the ancestor, whose
scull would be rubbed with powder and
paint each time. With its large head,
long body, and short extremities, the
Fang bieri had the proportion of a
newborn, thus emphasizing the
groups continuity with its ancestor
and with the three classes of the
society: the not-yet-born,
the living, and the dead. The relics were
essentially skull fragments, or sometimes
complete skulls, jawbones, teeth and
small bones. The bieri also served for
therapeutic rituals and, above all, for
the initiation of young males during the
great so festival.
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