The Mende are a group of Mande speaking people located on the West Coast in Sierra Leone. Most of their art is used in initiations and sometimes in healing processes. They are widely known for their wooden masks, with each mask having their own personality conveyed through dance and costume. The masks I have taken a particular interest in are the Sande society masks, specifically the Sowei Mask. The Sande Sowei society is a secret society of women that teaches young women the basic skills they need to succeed as a woman in life. These masks, being the only known masks to be worn by women, are worn at the celebrations of young women as they transition from childhood to adulthood. While all masks from other African cultures represent either the…show more content… These neck rolls represent the ripples of the water where the Sowei spirit emerges during a young girl’s initiation into the Sande society. The face of the masks, which are full and round, embody the fullness of young girls at the time of initiation as healthy and attractive. All of these aspects of the sowei masks express the idea of female beauty, power, and wealth.
According to the Mende, the idea of physical beauty and strong character go hand in hand with each other. This idea is perfected and sharpened from the time a girl is an infant until after she has become a wife. The Sowei mask visualizes this idea of being nyade, a term meaning both “beautiful” and “good”. The idea of beauty is portrayed in the neck of the masks, represented by creases in the necks of the masks. Not only do these neck creases represent beauty, but they also represent fertility and good well-being. The Sowei mask is used during the initiation cycle, a period of teaching and celebrating the transition of young girls into adults. All women of the Mende society begin the initiation cycle when they reach puberty. The mask appears in public performances at three key moments throughout this initiation cycle. The appearances of these masks in the villages let the families of the female initiates know that a certain stage of the initiation cycle has been completed successfully and they should prepare to donate food and