This colorful Yaka mask is associated with the
dance ceremonies surrounding the male
circumcision and initiation rites, known by the
word mukhanda. These ceremonies are meant to
advance to young men’s maturity and, more
important, to ensure their virility, and thus, the
continuation of the tribe. The Kholuka mask is
worn only by the initiated instructors who must
teach the adolescent boys the ways of manhood.
They are danced only at the end of the ceremony
held to welcome the boys back from a period of
isolation, honoring their transformation from
boys into men. The dancer moves in rhythm to
songs about adult masculinity, holding the mask
by a handle emerging behind the chin, remnants
of which survive on this example. Perhaps the
most spectacular feature of this mask are the five
conical protrusions that rise from the top of the
mask like horns. It is possible that these
extensions represent animal horns; however, it is
more likely that they depict and elaborate
coiffure. The features of the face, specifically the
tubular eyes, slightly upturned nose, and open
mouth with exposed teeth are all characteristic
of the kholuka mask. While the colorful hues of
red, blue, and white that enliven this mask
appear purely decorative to our untrained eyes,
to the Yaka, these polychrome patterns would be
identified as relating to their cosmology. Thus
this mask embodies the Yaka’s perception of the
world as they see it, ushering young men from
their boyhood past into the realm and
responsibilities of adulthood.
- (PF.6230b)
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