Essays on African Masquerades

In every culture, there are central ideas that promote the interaction of people and guide their way of life. In the traditional African setting, several beliefs and myths were considered to have both control and guidance of how the community was to live. Among this...

African culture holds rituals and customs very highly, among these rituals were the masquerades. Masquerade is commonly mistaken for secular or entertainment purposes but for African culture, the masquerade was used for spiritual or ancestral representations and is a big element in the African culture....

Masks, along with other African artwork, transcend time while communicating the spiritual legacy of the African people and their culture. African masks are a fundamental part of masquerades and have the ability to allow transition by crossing a liminal space. Henry John Drewal’s article, Gelede...