YAURE LOMANE MASK
This Yaure mask, with a depiction of a hornbil, is called lomane. The words is dervied from anoman, which means "bird" in the Baule language and occurs in the sons that accompany the maskers performance.
In most Yaure viliages, the lomane belongs to the Je group of masks, however, there are exampes with two bird figures which are considered part of the lo ensamble, which apperas after the Je at funerals of elderly men.
The fourth of a total of seven Je masqueraders, the lomane dances around the body of the deceased, then bends over and touches it. Based on the testimony of a number of Yaure, who say that the mask kills the worms that decompose the body, this act could be interpreted as a symbolic purification. |
