Idiok Mask - Ibibio People - Nigeria (LS6)

Price: $1,200.00


 


Living west of the Cross River, the Ibibio have no centralized government and are divided into a number of sub-groups such as the Anang & the Oron. Secret societies rule over daily life and ancestor worship is universally practiced. Their principal society is Ekpo (literally "dead ancestor") and plays a political, legislative, judiciary and religious role in the village. It is a graded association in charge of the ancestor cult and includes this mask type, the Idiok, which evokes wandering spirits. The wearer personifies the spirits who have momentarily returned to the world of the living. They have a dangerous character & their authoritarian nature invests them with an immunity, that allows the dancers to confront anyone.

11.5"H x 9.5"W x 6"D