Loniaken Plank Mask

Origin: Tussian (Tusyan) Tribe, Burkina Faso
Composition: wood, glass beads, cotton (repair), natural materials

Zoomorphic plank masks of the Tussian (or Tusyan), a small ethnic group of southwestern Burkina Faso, are known as "loniaken," and were part of the Do or Lo cult into which adolescents were initiated. During biannual ceremonies which were a precondition for marriage, the boys were given new, secret names associated with birds or wild animals. About every forty years, a great initiation rite was held in which those already initiated took part. This was the only occasion on which loniaken masks, specially made by smiths, were danced. The last of these ceremonies took place in 1933, in the town of Toussiana, and in 1960, in Guinea.

Characteristic of the loniaken mask is a flat, rectangular basic shape surmounted either by a bird's head or by two horns; in both cases, it represents a guardian spirit (This example represents the bird's head - the bill would have been carved from a separate piece of wood and inserted into the headpiece). Often, the rings around the eyes and an x-shaped design across the plank were made by applying a layer of wax, into which red abrus precatorius seeds were inserted. Interestingly, in this example, red glass beads were used instead of the red abrus seeds, which seems a logical substitution, as both were historically traded as currency (Ref: Herzog, African Masks). 

This piece was acquired in Bankoré, Burkina Faso in 2005.