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Burkina, Guinea. West Africa
The Bedu (moon dance) mask is carved from wood and painted in indigenous geometric designs. The masks can be large measuring up to 2.4 meters in height or if round as wide as 1.2 meters. During the dance ceremony the dancer is cloaked in a raffia costume made from the bark of a local tree. During the month of bedu 12 pairs of masks appear every night, accompanied by mass singing and dancing. The purpose of the masks, which embody the beneficent forces of the 12 moons of the Nefana (Luna Calender) was to purify the community and to remedy wrongs. Often also called harvest masks the Bedu mask is linked with fertility and the harsh struggle to survive in Sahalian Africa.
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