African masks

This is an African mask, made by the Baluba (Luba) people, in Central Africa. It was made out of beads, wood and hammered bronze. Its diameter is 29.21 cm, and it costs approximately 131.62 euros.  It is handmade, thus making it unique and more expensive.

I actually didn’t think much when choosing this mask. I went on Google, goggled ‘African masks’ and looked through the bunch. I chose this one, because it reminded me of two things: The whole thing itself to a squinting chubby person, and the eyes to this one over here:

yeah, I am actually not sure if he’s squinting or not… how are you supposed to see through that?

These types of masks were usually used for ceremonies and regular festivities, funerals, initiations (where the young are accepted into the adult community) and religious spiritual festivities. The masks in general are just plain creepy. They were made that way, (some of them) to keep away evil spirits. They have also inspired many artists, including Picasso.

 The masks, kifwebe in name, as said before were made by the Luba people. Their origins come from three spirits emerged from a ditch near a lake. The female spirit went to live amongst the humans, whom she found interesting. The two male spirits stayed behind, but visited the human village frequently, and eventually, dazzled begged for initiation. The masks that represent this tale come in many shapes and sizes, but tend to have linear patterns all over the face. When used in a religious dance, with the raffia costume, representing the spirits emerged from the ditch, they are said to connect this world and the spirit one. They are also said to have healing abilities.

The masks show in African art style and their connections to their spirits, beliefs, and costumes.

Below is a video showing how a tribe makes a mask from the start

"A man's a fool whose sheep flee's twice"

Thanks to help from family members, and my own knowledge on shepherds, sheep, cows, electric fences, and Spanish, I have reached a conclusion on this proverb. It means that you shouldn’t do the same mistake twice. To learn from your mistakes.

When I was given the proverb, I had no idea what it meant. I mean, what would it matter to me if the dude let the sheep left him? Was he really that lonely?  And so, I went to go ask for help. I was told a whole bunch of stuff, which I don’t remember, because I had no idea what it meant. It just sounded like Xhosa to me. (Xhosa is a very complicated language spoken somewhere in Africa. I couldn’t think of any other language to which I knew absolutely nothing to, not even a random word) At my baffled expression, my mom tried to explain with a different technique, or better, I do not know which, as I have no idea which way she explained it first. She asked me to translate the moral to Spanish.  And with this I reached a conclusion. The man is an idiot. And then she told me something around this: “ If a Shepard is at his job, and falls asleep, or leaves the gate open,  letting his sheep escape, the next day he will know not to fall asleep or leave the fence door open”  Thus, looking at me with an expecting face. Me just looking back at her blankly, she sent me to my dad. He had heard our conversation and decided to use a different example. Cows and fences. “If you put a cow inside a fenced area, at the beginning, it will run at the fence, and get an electric shock, but it will try again and again, and eventually give up, because it will have figured out that fences = electric shock” To this my mom said a witty comment (I’m guessing) to which they started laughing, but I found no humor in. I’m not sure why, but then it all clicked, how could I have been so dumb. The ‘man’ is a Sheppard (easy take). His job is to keep the sheep’s from running away. The ‘sheep fleeing’ refers to his mistake. And the ‘twice’ is well, it means two times. The Shepard failed his job twice. He’s a ‘fool’ or idiot for letting the sheep run away two times; He is an idiot for making the same mistake twice. He should learn from his mistakes. Tada!