THE CULTURE OF PLAYFULNESS AND OF SPIRITS ANNA A. HLAVÁČOVÁ Institute of Theatre and Film Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences Abstract: This study tries to make the relections by Anna A. Hlaváčová published in Slovak at least partially accessible to Anglophone readers, including African researchers. The author draws on her own research in Nigeria and tries to expand her conclusions wherever possible. The author claims that wooden masks used in performances form a great part of the cultural identity of African people.The second part of this study presents an example of how the world of values of an African woodcarver is relected in a facial sculpture. The text presents authentic knowledge and displays intentional tendency towards an essayistic style – the author does not want to create any obstacles to the reader’s reception of the text. Key words: ludic approach, playfulness, nascence, ageing, cultural universalia, original, objec- tive, lexibility, psychological subtlety, sculpture, masquerade, African, Kalabari, Ogoni, Ahoda During my research journeys to Africa, I was impressed by the psychological sub- tlety that African people displayed in everyday situations. One can encounter this at random. For example, when somebody drops something, the one near him says “par- don” or “sorry” (depending on whether it is in Anglophone or Francophone Africa). In this situation, the one who says the word of apology takes the blame for what has happened to the other. The signiicance of such an action is to prevent a person from being angry with himself. The damaged thing is secondary. The botom line is to let go of the pursuit of being perfect in everything and not to expect lawlessness from others. There is an element of play in this situation. Let us take another example. In a situation when somebody becomes ill, it is not considered to be his fault. On the contrary, others will pay him a visit to ask for his forgiveness for the fact that they did not like or care enough about him, which was the reason why he became ill. If the ill person has any disputes or enemies, his relatives might tell them about his illness and ask them to reconcile with him; they believe that the cause of the illness is the unresolved conlict. Although traditional African communities look for culprits on a daily basis, there are moments when they do not waste time or efort investigating who is to blame or who is right because life is at stake, and lives are interlinked in human society. Be- sides goodwill, there is also a need for playfulness or ludicity. Ludic behaviour is a sign of psychological lexibility, and since lexibility means having the ability to distance oneself from a problem, I consider it a sign of human maturity. In Western Africa I encountered the playfulness which is examined in Jo- han Huizinga’s book Homo ludens, where the author atempts to deine man on the basis of playfulness and records its displays and gradual disappearance from Euro- pean civilisation.