Dance Hat (Juju)

Hats and helmets that imitate traditional hairstyles are common across parts of Africa, and some items of headwear also incorporate real human hair into their material construction. In the case of this helmet headdress, hair has been inserted into the six long coils (or “braids”), adding to its power and potency—and by extension that of its wearer—during dances and performances. This piece would have been worn during ceremonies relating to juju, the complex of medicine, music, and dance at the center of Grassfields’s secret societies, which have long played an important role in the northwestern and western regions of Cameroon.