Mask of Mapiko

Helmet mask in wood, with human hair applied on its top. Used by the "Lipiko", the main character of "Mapiko", male initiation rituals of the Makonde. Collected in 1958, by Jorge Dias and Margot Dias, in the scope of the ethnographic field work on this cultural group developed within the scope of the Study Mission on Ethnic Minorities of the Portuguese Overseas Territories (1951-57).