KOMO MASKS
93
leaders then step back to allow the audience to see
them. The dancers perform seated, making only
head and arm movements. The barkcloth costumes
have long, extended arms decorated with
triangular designs and supported by reeds. With
their arms thus lengthened and thickened, the
dancers rummage about on the ground around
themselves, appearing as if they are looking for
something.
During the dance, the choir sings:
Nsembú, o, O, nsembú,
nsembú, áƃɔ, their nsembú,
Abáongóndó, father of Ongóndó,
muniá Iƃólέ, husband of Iƃólέ,
Iƃólέ, o, o, Iƃólέ,
Amáongóndó mother of Ongóndó
nká Biangɔlɔ wife of Biangɔlɔ
nsembú, o, o, nsembú,
nsembú, áƃɔ. their nsembú
The dance itself lasts only a few minutes. Everything
must be concluded by the first light of day.
When it is over, the dancers are taken back to the
hut in the same manner they departed it.
The display of the masks is followed by the
dance of akɔkɔ, the rooster, with which the rising
sun is greeted, and this concludes the phέlέá
dances. Though it has many elements, this cycle
of dances is considered to constitute a whole. The
other ritual dances that will follow are, properly
speaking, part of the investiture of initiates and
thus are not part of the subject matter we are addressing
here.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MASKS
Both from its visual aspects and the context in
which the representations are made, the significance
of the dance appears on the surface to
be fairly clear. On the first level, it represents
a pangolin, whose scale-covered body is referenced
by the triangular patterns on the extended
arms. This placid animal snoops around the
ground with its elongated snout in search of
its food. This symbolizes the work of the diviner,
who, rather than seeking food, searches
for spells that might have been cast on people.
Moreover, objects found on the ground could
be the sources of such spells, especially when
left in places where people frequently passed,