They are believed to be ancient or, on the contrary, at first glance, simple folkloric ersatz.
And we discover that in reality, all these objects presented in a bush village setting at the museum of so-called primitive arts, quai Branly, are completely sacred, perfectly alive and active for their African owners.
In the vast space on the ground floor, these masks, calabashes and other totems are those of traditional brotherhoods;
trades, associations of age groups, congregations which largely structure the west and north-west of Cameroon.
They are used for ceremonies, festivals and popular dances, which are still partially ritual and in any case imbued with a sincere carnivalesque fervor.
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About thirty hereditary chiefs, kings, queens, princes and even a sultan, from the four cultural areas of the Grassfields territory have agreed to extract them from the "sacristies" where they usually rest.
All the more so since the exhibition was designed by the association…
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