Makonma (Makonde face mask)
Face-covering mask of the Makonde complex, worn over the front of the head in contrast to the *lipiko* helmet mask; more common on the Tanzanian side and among Makua and Mwera neighbours.
Makonma is the Makonde term for the face mask, as distinct from the lipiko helmet mask that sits on top of the dancer's skull. Both belong to the mapiko masquerade of the Rovuma region, but the face mask covers the front of the head, is tied on with cord and is worn with a cloth or fibre costume that hides the dancer. Typical examples are small ovals of light wood, 15 to 30 cm high, with slit eyes, a straight nose, a protruding mouth and small pierced ears, finished in red-brown or black pigment and decorated with applied wax tattoo marks (dinembo).
Face masks are more frequent among the Tanzanian Makonde and their Makua and Mwera neighbours than on the Mueda plateau of Mozambique, where the helmet mask dominates and where face masks are sometimes regarded as an imported, lower-prestige form (Israel 2014; Kingdon 2002). Because the same workshops served several peoples, face masks of this kind are usually described as Makonde complex rather than attributed to one group.
Related entries
- Dinembo (Makonde wax tattoo marks)Raised facial and body tattoo patterns of the Makonde and their Rovuma neighbours, reproduced on masks as beads and strands of blackened beeswax pressed onto the wood rather than carved.
- Lipiko (Makonde helmet mask)Makonde helmet mask carved from soft *ntene* wood, worn atop the dancer's skull in *mapiko* masquerade at male initiation and funerals; a ritual object, not a commercial carving.