Ndonya (Makonde lip plug)
Upper-lip plug worn by Makonde women, rendered on female masks as a raised disc above the mouth; a Makonde-specific marker with no counterpart among neighbouring peoples.
Ndonya (also written ndona) is the wooden or ebony plug that Makonde women wore in a pierced upper lip, enlarged gradually from girlhood until it stood out as a flat disc. Together with the dinembo tattoos and filed teeth it defined the adult female face on the Mueda plateau, and it was still common in the first half of the twentieth century.
On masks the lip plug is carved as a raised disc or short peg projecting above the mouth of female characters, sometimes combined with real hair and applied wax tattoos. The feature is specific to the Makonde and does not occur in the masquerade of the Makua, Yao or Mwera, which makes it one of the few markers that allow a piece of the Makonde complex to be assigned to the Makonde proper (Dias 1964–70; Kingdon 2002).
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.