Sirige Masked Dancers Dogon, Sanga Region, Mali. (Photo: artSTOR)
The Sirige mask is part of the Dama masquerade, which is a collective funerary rite of the Dogon. The Sirige mask is extremely tall, and is usually painted with triangle motifs that repeat on the long plank. The Sirige is a motif for “house”, and is one of the better-known masks of the Dama masquerade[1]. The tallness of the Sirige mask represents the generations of the great family.
The power that the Dama masquerade has for its community is that it commemorates the dead that have passed since the previous Dama. The masquerade celebrates their ancestors as they have entered the supernatural realm. The purpose of the masquerade is to lead the souls of the deceased to their family altars, their final resting place.
[1] Maude Wahlman, Contemporary African Arts, (United States of America: Field Museum of Natural History, 1974), 98.
The Sirige mask is part of the Dama masquerade, which is a collective funerary rite of the Dogon. The Sirige mask is extremely tall, and is usually painted with triangle motifs that repeat on the long plank. The Sirige is a motif for “house”, and is one of the better-known masks of the Dama masquerade[1]. The tallness of the Sirige mask represents the generations of the great family.
The power that the Dama masquerade has for its community is that it commemorates the dead that have passed since the previous Dama. The masquerade celebrates their ancestors as they have entered the supernatural realm. The purpose of the masquerade is to lead the souls of the deceased to their family altars, their final resting place.
[1] Maude Wahlman, Contemporary African Arts, (United States of America: Field Museum of Natural History, 1974), 98.