Satimbe Mask

In traditional Dogon culture (much of which has long since disappeared), masks were the domain of the Awa Society. The Awa Society made over 70 different types of masks and divided them into many categories. Among the most important and ubiquitous masks of the Awa is the satimbe mask. The Satimbe depicts a female figure standing atop a mask, or in some cases sitting or squatting.

Masked dancing among the Dogon is most often related to funerary practices. Upon the death and the anniversary of the death of individuals in society, large numbers of masked dancers would reenact cosmological mythology and ritualized beliefs of the afterlife.

In the case of non-funerary masked dancing, harvest festivals, and rituals that occurred at specific intervals in years were also a cause for large scale dancing. The Satimbe mask functioned in both contexts.

The female figure atop the mask depicts Yasigi, the mythological Dogon woman who among other things was the one who introduced the type of dance skirt worn by Dogon masked dancers. Other variants of Dogon mythology have Yasigi aiding in the Dogon adoption of masking traditions itself. In any event, the Satimbe mask and its many variants appears in nearly all Dogon dance rituals.

Originally, this Satimbe mask would have been painted in bright colors and often decorated with long fiber attachments.

The very fact that a large number of Dogon masks have entered museums and private collections with a worn surface (such as in this example) and lacking all attachments attests to the abandonment of many of the traditional dances in Dogon communities.