The Kore is the last of the six initiation societies. These
societies, run by a few elders, act in political, economic, and medical capacity and
exercise social control over the community. Initiation for men lasts for seven years
and ends with their symbolic death and their rebirth to teach them that bodily death
does not mean suffering and finality, it means union with God.
The Kore teaches self
knowledge and the doctrine that they undergo endless re-incarnations. But, without
the help of the Kore, every time he returns to earth, God removes from the reincarnated person a portion of his spiritual nature, and keeps it in heaven.
Therefore, if
uninitiated, after a certain number of re-incarnations, the deity will become completely reabsorbed. To avoid this, the Kore society seeks to achieve the assimilation
with God to ensure countless reincarnations. This entails enduring the intensive
training period into one of the eight classes of the Kore. This is a Kore Duga mask,
and represents the spiritual joys and pleasures experienced by those who reach the
stage of union with God.
Height: 19 1/2” x Width: 6 3/4” x Depth: 6 1/4”