Mende (Mendi), Sierra Leone
Sowei (Bundu) helmet mask. The 2,000,000 Mende comprise numerous kinds of social
structure, such as firmly marked kin groups, political hierarchies and societies for
diverse purposes: training boys and girls in appropriate behavior, protection against
enemies or curing illnesses. The Mende are farmers who grow rice, yams, peanuts, and cocoa
and who collect palm oil. Most bodily ills are believed to result from transgressions
against the rules of conduct laid down by one sodality to another. The Mende are best
known for black, helmet-shaped masks, named sowei or bundu and used by the sande society, in
particular, during the initiating girls. The initiates learn wisdom, beauty, grace, and
self-control, all of which they will need within the multigenerational, polygamous
households of their future husbands. All Mende girls join the sande society at
puberty. Representing female water spirits, the masks have an idealized female face whose
aesthetic reflects religious and philosophical ideals. The design of the facial features
conforms to strict conventions and has symbolic content. The masks are carved by men, but
danced by women. This is unusual in Africa, since men usually wear masks that conceal the
face. They were worn over the head.
Material:
wood
Size: H. 16, W. 8½, D. 9