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Serpent Headdress
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Nearly five feet tall, this serpent headdress towered above crowds when danced. Its two faces seemed to look in all directions. Secured by a conical framework of palm branches on a costumed man’s head, it appeared at key points in initiation rites for both boys and girls. This multi-colored snake may be the serpent-spirit Ninkinanka. It can be likened to the rainbow, whose changing colors evoke how boys transform into men during initiation. A staged circa 1954 photograph depicts the serpent headdress now at the CMA. Serpent masquerades stopped in the mid-1950s when most Nalu and Baga people converted to Islam.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineSerpent Headdress, late 1800s–early 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Guinea, possibly Baga-style maker. Wood (Nauclea pobeguinii) and paint; overall: 148 cm (58 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection, 1960.37
