Bamileke People

Kuosi (Elephant Mask) Society Costume

This ornate costume is comprised of a full-length tunic, long mask, wide headdress and fly whisk. The tunic is a coarse light brown fabric patterned with dark blue geometric shapes. There is a border of orange tinted animal fur around the hem. The mask is made of black fabric decorated with small blue, white, gold and orange beads in circular and diamond shaped patterns. It completely covers the head and extends in a wide strip down to the ground on both the front and back. The mask has two round eye holes, and large cloth circles on the sides of the head that resemble exaggerated ears. The round headdress is narrow at the bottom, but expands outward as it rises upward to form a wide circle around the head. The headdress is made of hundreds of thin tubes of black cloth. From the top of each tube extends a single orange feather. Countless orange feathers are densely packed across the entire top surface of the headdress. Held in the hand like a scepter, the fly whisk is completely covered in small beads of white, black, blue, yellow and red, patterned in nested diamond shapes. The bottom end of the whisk is divided into two tapering points like prongs. From the top of the whisk extends a long plume of thick brown animal hair. This costume also includes an ivory necklace and wooden bracelets.