Punu-lumbo-gabon Mask

Mukuyi Okuyi mask - Punu / Lumbu - Gabon
In the large regions of the Ngounié and Nyanga valleys, south and south-central Gabon, funeral ceremonies were the occasion for the release of white masks known as Okuyi, Mukuyi or Mukudji depending on the place.

Okuyi masks are light, soft wooden masks whitened with white clay (formerly mixed with bone powder). They are commemorative representations of dead ancestors, male or female. The fact that the masks can be sexed explains the male/female pairs.

Perched on large wooden stilts, the dancer was covered with raffia loincloths or cotton fabric. He performed breathtaking acrobatic figures throughout the village and around the huts.

The Okuyi mask could be seen by men, women and children alike, although the latter mostly preferred to remain hidden!

The men mimicked fear, gesticulating and threatening the mask with sticks and stones.

Some masks of Pounou Lumbo morphology form the transition to the Douma and Ndjabi forms of the Ogooué-Lolo and Haut Ogooué regions. The shape remains close to that of the Okuyi masks, but the color code changes to a black/red/white trio.