TOMA, LANDAI MASKS, Guinea

These brooding, often quite large, masks represent a forest spirit, Landai. Masks like these were used by the men's Poro Society to initiate boys into manhood. The masks, in what was often a frightening ritual for the boys, would symbolically swallow the boy, who would then re-emerge as a man. The masks were worn with a large raffia costume. Most have a flat face, the traditional beaked nose, jaws of teeth, protruding brow and horns.