Awa (in

Dogon Dogon may refer to: *Dogon people, an ethnic group living in the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa *Dogon languages, a small, close-knit language family spoken by the Dogon people of Mali *'' Dogon A.D.'', an album by saxophonist Juliu ...

), also known as the Awa Society, the Society of Masks, is an

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...

and

initiatory Washing and anointing (also called the initiatory) is a temple ordinance practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Mormon fundamentalists as part of the faith's endowment ceremony. It is a sacred ordinance fo ...

society of the

Dogon people The Dogon are an ethnic group indigenous to the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa, south of the Niger River, Niger bend, near the city of Bandiagara, and in Burkina Faso. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000. They spe ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

which is made up of

circumcised Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

men, and whose role is both ritual and political within Dogon society. The Awa Society takes an important role in Dogon religious affairs, and regularly preside over funereally rites and the ''dama'' ceremony—a ritual ceremony that marks the end of

bereavement Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogniti ...

Dogon country Dogon country (French: ''Pays Dogon'') is a region of eastern Mali and northwestern Burkina Faso populated mainly by the Dogon people, a diverse ethnic group in West Africa with Dogon languages, diverse languages. Like the term Serer country occup ...

( fr ).Ezra, Kate, ''Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection'',

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(1988), pp. 23–25, (retrieved March 3, 2020

/ref> This Society is one of the important aspect of Dogon religious life—which is primarily based on the worship of the single Omnipotence, omnipotent,

omniscient Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...

and

omnipresent Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to descri ...

Creator God

Amma Amma or AMMA may refer to: Acronym * American Medical Marijuana Association * Amhara Mass Media Agency (created in 1993), a media organisation in Amhara Region in Ethiopia * Association of Malayalam Movie Artists * Assistant Masters' and Mist ...

and the veneration of the ancestors. Although it is only one aspect of Dogon's religious sects, it is perhaps more well known than the others partly due to Dogon mask–dance culture which attracts huge tourism, and their masks highly sought after, and in fact, one of the first to be sought after by

art collectors Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

in the west.

Etymology

The Dogon word ''awa'' (not to be confused with the Arabic name for ''Eve'', ''Hawa/Awa'') comes the Dogon's

Sacred language A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives. Concept A sacre ...

of ''Sigi so'' of

Sangha, Mali Sangha (sometimes spelled Sanga) is a rural commune in the Cercle of Bandigara in the Mopti Region of Mali. The commune contains around 44 small villages and in the 2009 census had a population of 32,513. The administrative centre (''chef-lieu ...

. The term is used to describe several things: fibre ornaments and masks worn by members of the Society, masked dancers, all men age to participate in ritual dances, or the Society itself. Leiris, Michel, ''La notion d'Awa chez les Dogon.'' ompte-rendu n

Persée ''Persée'' (''Perseus'') is a tragédie lyrique with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed on 18 April 1682 by the Opéra at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. Roles Synopsis ACT I: The Pal ...

, Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 1941, tome 11. (1941), pp. 229—23

Purpose

The ritual performances of the Awa include various masks and dress. When a person of importance dies, members of the Society wear a special kind of traditional African masks, African mask called the ''Kanaga'', and perform a ritual dance on the roof of the deceased in order to escort the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

(''nyama'') of the dead to its final resting place, and to defend the living from bad wandering souls that might linger and wish to cause harm to the living. These ritual masks are also worn at the end of mourning as well as during death anniversaries.Segy, Ladislas, ''Masks of Black Africa'',

Courier Corporation Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

(1976), p. 68, , (retrieved March 20, 2020

/ref> The Awa believe that their Traditional African religions, traditional religious role is to reorder the spiritual forces after the world was left in a disordered state following the death of "their ancient ancestor"—the

Nommo The Nommo or Nummo are primordial ancestral spirits in Dogon religion and cosmogony (sometimes referred to as demi deities) venerated by the Dogon people of Mali. The word Nommos is derived from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink." Nommos a ...

. It is their view that the spiritual realm was disrupted as a result of that

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

in the form of the

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

ancestor Lebe. By restoring order and transforming the spirits of the dead from being dangerous and destructive, the spirit can then be elevated to a position of honour, and regarded as a supernatural

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

"well disposed towards the living." The ritual enhances the prestige of the deceased as well as his family.Werness, Hope B., ''Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art: Worldview, Symbolism, and Culture in Africa, Oceania, and North America'',

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

(2003), p. 85, , (retrieved March 20, 2020

/ref>

Kanaga mask

The '' Kanaga mask, Kanaga'' mask is one of seventy—eight kinds of masks used by the Awa. The mask is

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

d both in male and female form. The male version is the most numerous found during funeral and death anniversaries. Imperato, Pascal James (cont. Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum), ''The Cultural Heritage of Africa'', Safari Museum Press (1974), pp. 28-29

Notes and references

{{Dogon topics, state=collapsed Dogon religion Masks in Africa