De prijswinnaars van de King of the Air krijgen niet alleen ook eeuwige roem maar ook een geweldig Afrikaans masker mee naar huis. In de aanloop naar de King of the Air 2016 komt Redbull Zuid-Afrika met een serie achtergrond verhalen, oa over deze maskers.

The past three Red Bull King of the Air events to have taken place in South Africa have had masks for trophies. No two masks are the same, with each mask having been sourced from art dealers in rural parts of Africa.

Fittingly, these masks are worn by kings or future kings only and all carry a very deep spiritual symbolism. Each uses some elements of nature as its original source of power and all three have featured shells. Shells are symbol of riches and power.

Here's what each individual mask symbolises:

2013 - THE MASK OF PROTECTION
This was sourced from Gabon and is estimated to be 60 years old. It was used during war time. It is said to have been worn by the king of the village only an during pre-battle ceremonies only, to give protection to the village warriors during battle.

It features the horns of a springbok, from which the king gets his power and passes this onto his warriors. 

2014 - ULTIMATE WARRIOR
This mask originated in Swaziland and is estimated to be 50 years old.
It is a very powerful warrior mask and signifies the wearer is the most powerful of all the warriors.

Every five years the villages in the area come together and all their top warriors fight in order to determine the ultimate warrior in the area. The king of the winning warrior's village is awarded this mask.

2015 - BECOMING THE KING 
This mask is from Kwa-Zulu Natal and is estimated to be 65 years old. 
It is worn by a prince during the time when he is becoming a King.

'King' is the main feature of the mask and the symbol of nature (the king of the jungle (lion)) is looking up to the king. The king gets his power from this animal.

To become 'a man' the prince has to go out and slaughter a cow. So the cow horns are also a feature of the mask.

Meer over deze prachtige masker en over King of the Air 2016 via de link.