Bamileke Bird Headdress
Tribe: Bamileke
Country: Cameroon
Material: Wood
Size: 21" (53 cm) Beak to tail - 12.5" (31.75 cm) high on stand
NOTE: Gallery style African art display stand included.
Status: SOLD - Private Collection - New Jersey, USA.
The
Bamileke tribe was originally from an area to the north known as Mbam.
In the 17th century traders moved southward and are currently in the
grasslands of western Cameroon. Today their population consists of about
eight million people. Although the Bamileke are primarily farmers, they
are also hunters and traders. Women are responsible for planting and
harvesting due to the belief that women make the soil more fruitful. The
major crops grown are yams, peanuts, and maize. The men in the tribe
help with clearing the land and hunting.
The
Bamileke tribe worships a supreme god and their ancestors. Ancestral
spirits are embodied in the skulls of deceased ancestors. Skulls of
ancestors are kept to give the spirits a place to reside to prevent them
from causing trouble for the family. If a skull is not kept a ceremony
must be done to compensate. The Bamileke tribe is governed by a village
chief who is supported by a council of elders. In the past, the chief
was believed to have supernatural powers that allowed him to turn into
an animal (elephant, buffalo, or leopard). The chief is responsible for
the protection of his people, dispensing supreme justice, and ensuring
the fertility of the crops and fields.
Many
of the art produced by the Bamileke tribe associated with royal
ceremonies. Most Bamileke statues represent the chief. Art objects
showed the position of a person it the hierarchy. As a person descended
or ascended the social ladder the materials used and the number of
pieces changed. In a chief’s residence one would find ancestral figures
and masks, as well as headdresses, bracelets, beaded thrones, pipes,
necklaces, swords, horns, fans, elephant tusks, leopard skins,
terracotta pots, and dishware. All of this was used to assert the
chief’s power. Beadwork and masks are common in this tribe. Masks were
decorated with copper, cowrie shells, and beads. They were carved to
represent male and female heads, stag, buffalo, birds, and elephant. The
elephant masks and the buffalo masks represented power and strength.
Bamileke masks were usually worn during ceremonies and rituals such as
funerals and annual festivals. The art styles of the grassland tribes
are had to differentiate because of the complex migration patterns of
the region. |
