The Punu (or Bapunu) are a Bantu meta-ethnicity of Central Africa, one of the four major peoples of Gabon and some areas of the Republic of Congo. The Punu live in independent villages divided into clans and families, united through a secret society known as moukoudji which regulates community life and applies itself to the neutralization of evil forces. The moukoudji utilize statuettes, human relics, and masks in dances.
Punu are matrilineal and venerate the 'first' female ancestor, the mukaukila , in ceremonies, song, and dance with an okuyi (pl. mekuyo) "white mask" worn by the male members of the mwiri initiation society. The okuyi mask is believed to harness the powers of female ancestors, and is worn and danced by a man in communal rites such as funerals, youth initiations, and births.
The okuyi mask performer is a man from the mwiri society, who may dance on stilts as tall as feet during ritual ceremonies, to request spiritual intervention in the hunt for malicious forces. The dancer holds hold fly-whisks and dresses in a costume of plant fibers.
The okuyi white-faced mask typically features scarification in a diamond-shaped pattern on the forehead comprised of nine miniature squares or diamonds. The white-faced Punu masks represent idealized female ancestors' faces with the white facial color symbolizing peace, the spirits of the dead, and the afterlife. The okuyi mask features protruding pursed lips, globular protruding eyes incised with a curve, a high-domed forehead, and a characteristic rigid high coiffure reflecting Punu women's hairstyles. The masks often have an Oriental expression, but no such influence has been established. (PS)
Sources: Dinesh Sathisan, "The Ideal Beauty of the Punu Okuyi" (March–April 2011), 17; Barbara Thompson, “The African Art Collection at the Hood Museum of Art,” African Arts 37, no 2 (Summer 2004):28-9.
- Subject Matter: Mask
- Inventory Number: 2014.1.183
- Collections: Sacred World Art Collection