Burkinese Kurumba People Funeral Mask (Model): "Adone"

The Kurumba produce an antelope headdress that they call "adone". The adone is danced at the end of the mourning period for a chief. The mask can only be used by a member of a special Kurumba clan called "Sawadougou." Based on Kurumba mythology, Sawadougou came down from the heavens wearing a mask. His wife and children were endowed with the features of the antelope, the hyena and the hare. They defeated the evil spirits during the first tilling of the land. Dancers wearing the adone symbolically plow the earth during the funerals, paralleling the creation myth.

The Kurumba are a small culture living on the border of Mali and Burkina Faso, not far from Bandiagara and the Dogon. Little is known about their early history, but they are undoubtedly linked in some way to the Dogon. They call themselves the "Nioniose," and are perhaps descended from the few Dogon who chose to join Mossi Muslim society during their late 15th century invasions.

 
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