MASCARADES ET CARNAVALS

Description

In Africa, regular festivities mark the end of initiation that prepares adolescents for adulthood. Similarly, the enthronement of a king or a leader, the celebration of the harvest, commemoration of the dead are all excuses for the ritual of celebration organization. The masks then appear and wander the eyes of all, inspiring excitement and fascination. Masquerades rise, moreover, the fervor of those attending the major annual festivals and large gatherings. Elsewhere in the Americas, including the Caribbean, are the carnivals that offer people the opportunity to share each year of the highlights. These events feed on traditional European carnivals, still very much alive, and draw some of their inspiration in ceremonies and festivals to own non-Western societies. Beyond their specificities, masquerades and carnivals live like rituals in which are built and structured communities.

This orientation based the theme of the book. Sub-Saharan Africa, the corpus consists mainly of masks, wooden faces, great diversity, and where human traits frequently mingle with references from the animal world. Forgetting the sequined costumes, the Caribbean is invested mainly through some mas, figures made for the carnival time with natural materials or recovery. This performance is also discussed world through photographs that reveal unique atmospheres where gestures, music and speech chanting parades and shows.

Contributions of authors – anthropologists, sociologists – underline the essential characteristics of arts carnival mask and arts with their issues, symbolic / religious, societal, political and artistic …. The book allows a wide readership to discover the riches that deserve to be better known.