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National Geographic : 1964 Aug
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Moronic mask glowering, a Makua stilt dancer suits up. He lashes his legs to six-foot poles on which he will per form feats demanding an acrobat's balance and an ath lete's strength. Gaily garbed giants cavort as a Makua village gathers for a day of fun. The stilt dancers' teetering ballet has no ritual purpose. Men take pride in making outlandish costumes. The next morning I traveled north to the Rovuma River, which borders the United Re public of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. At Nan gade, near the frontier, I found Makua tribes men preparing for one of their strange stilt dances. The stilts they mounted were unlike those I knew as a child; they had no supports for the feet. The upper ends of six-foot notched poles were simply strapped tightly to the legs with strong woven fibers. Red and yellow cloths like long, loose trousers draped the stilts. Grotesque masks covered the faces. Assistants helped the dancers to their "feet." Like giants with tiny heads, they strutted to the center of the village where, to the beat of drums, they strode along in a snaking conga line and then performed a kind of twist on stilts. As far as I could see, the dance was purely for fun and entertainment (above). Among the amused spectators were several women to whom laughing must have been painful because of the big disks in their upper lips. Some scholars believe this disfigurement began during slavery days, to make the wom en less desirable. Stern-wheel Steamers Ply the Zambezi Flying southward from the primitive Ma kua country, I was struck again by the vivid contrasts that greet the traveler in Mozam 219
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