Jeff et al:

 

I have come across one more excellent article that sheds light on Dogon masquerade generally with some specific descriptions and insights regarding the mask we have previously considered by the name of Sirige.  In his article, "Enter the Bush:  A Dogon Mask Festival" -- which appears on pages 56-77 of Susan Vogel, ed.  Africa Explores (Prestel, 1991:  ISBN 3791311433) -- Walter (or Wouter) E. A. van Beek offers a rich annotated description of a Dogon Dama festival which took place in 1989 in Amani (near Tireli) which includes beneficial background information regarding both the "Sirige" and Dogon masquerade more broadly. 

 

Van Beek, whose book, Dogon:  Africa's People of the Cliffs New York: Harry N. Abrams (2001), ISBN 0810943735 is spectacularly illustrated with photographs by Stephanie Hollyman and is another fine "thick description" of contemporary Dogon life and is also highly recommended although it does not focus on the specific mask form which we are currently considering.  An additional article -- that I have not yet had the opportunity to read -- which challenges Griaule's methodology and the accuracy of the cosmology presented in the latter's works -- is van Beek's "Dogon Restudied: A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule," Current Anthropology 32, 1992, pp. 139-167.  (If anybody has access to this article or this issue of Current Anthropology,

 

Relevant information and insights from "Enter the Bush" include divergent nomenclature for the masks we have discussed.  For instance, the Great Mask, previously unnamed, is identified as agamaga.  According to the text accompanying the illustration, the mask is one of various representations of the original Great Mask:  "The original mask, found in mythical times by people in the northeastern village of Yougo, is represented in several ways.  One of them is the dani, the dancing pole, erected at the main dancing ground...;  a second is the emna na, a bull-roarer swung at night whose sound is the voice of the mask. In many villages, Amani amongst them, a third representation is by a long mask of the 'tree' type, called the agamaga.  This mask...is never worn on the head, but is carried around and shown to the dancers during the festival.  For the rest of the time it is kept in one of the many crevasses of the village scree and guarded by the elders."  (p. 60)

 

Further, the mask to which we have previously referred as sirige is here called "emna tiu, the tree or 'big house' mask..." (p. 58)  (Note:  Emna refers to masks generally and is inclusive of other elements of the masquerade including the fiber costume, ritual paraphernalia and the dancer himself and does not denote the disengaged structure to which we often refer when we use the term, "mask.")  Noting that the appearance of the mask in the Dama here described shows a different progression, choreography and accompaniment from its appearance at the Sigui described by Imperato in Sanga two decades previously, here is the relevant passage regarding the Sirige or emna tiu as danced in Amani in 1989:

 

"The spectacular tiu, four to five meters high, move in together like a walking thicket of trees.  Like all wooden headpieces, this huge one, representing both a tree and a clan house, not only rests on the dancer's head but is tied to his waist with strips of cloth through a mesh of cords at the back.  To maneuver, the dancer bites on a grip inside the headpiece.  It takes good teeth as well as a strong neck to dance this mask, as the huge contraption has to move vigorously.  Swaying the tree to and fro, each time touching the ground, and whirling it around horizontally, the dancer shows himself a real sagatara, a strong young man, eliciting shouts of praise from the bystanders, who keep at a safe distance.  One of the performers fails in raising his mask from the ground and is booed away, while the spectators chatter about who he is, and why he lacks strength."  (p.61)

 

Also, here are some of the numerous relevant images of Dogon masquerades from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives that can be viewed on SIRIS (Smithsonian) site that contain images of the featured mask variety...and others, especially kanaga masks...  I believe the images date from 1959 and 1970.  Finally, the long, long link below will take you to the full listing of Dogon masquerade images although the first image, a danced Tyi Wara, is from the Bamana but has been catalogued among the Dogon images.

 

A sampling:

The group:

 

Lee