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Mayo Fariseo

TITLE: Mayo Fariseo
TYPE: face mask portion of a helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Sinaloa
ETHNICITY: Mayo
DESCRIPTION: Judio (Fariseo) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX118
MAKER: Unknown maker in Mochicahui
CEREMONY: Holy Week (Fariseo Dance-Drama)
FUNCTION: celebration; purification; social control
AGE: ca. 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: metal wire mesh; glue; pigment

The Yaqui and related Mayo people inhabit the desert in the Mexican state of Sonora and southern Arizona. Their religious beliefs are a syncretic version of traditional animist practices and Jesuitical Catholicism. The fariseos (Mayo) or chapayekas (Yaqui) are an important society in both communities and are mainly active during the three months surrounding Holy Week. The fariseos in theory represent Pharisees, or the Jews (judios) who supposedly condemned Jesus (it was actually the Romans), and are always represented by leather helmets with wood or painted faces.

Fariseos are organized by a society, with each celebration having a fariseo cabo (head Pharisee) who goes unmasked and organizes the dancers. To join the fariseo society, an applicant must be endorsed by a godfather (padrino) who is already a fariseo, and a godmother (padrina) who is a singer.

Fariseos usually begin dancing for several hours at the houses where idols of saints are kept, and then they come to dance in the town ramadas in the plaza, where the pasko’olas, deer dancer, and coyote dancers have been dancing.

In some village ceremonies, the fariseos, representing evil, repeatedly attack the church and are repelled by Christians throwing flowers. In others, unmasked fariseos represent the Roman persecutors of Christ bearing wooden swords and have battles with masked Christian caballeros (cavalry). Ultimately, the fariseos are defeated and convert to Christianity.  In still other villages, the fariseos follow the procession of the icons of the church and mimic searching for Jesus. Dancing as a fariseo is believed to put the dancer in the good graces of Jesus. When the masked fariseos dance, the dancer holds a rosary with a cross in his mouth during the ceremony to ward off evil.

Normally, all fariseo masks except two are burned after Holy Week. More are made in preparation for the following year. The two that are preserved are kept to be buried with any member of the fariseo society who happens to die during that year. Once worn, the masks are considered sacred objects, because the fariseos pray while dancing.

During Holy Week, the fariseo society takes over most of the legal, police, and religious ceremonies of the Yaqui and Mayo villages. For example, working was traditionally prohibited on Ash Wednesday, and anyone caught working would be brought before the fariseo cabo and fined or, if he or she had no money, forced to drag a heavy mesquite cross along the procession route. At Lent, the fariseos go from house to house, collecting donations for the Fiesta de la Gloria and other religious celebrations.

This mask was formerly attached to a coyote pelt that was not properly cured and disintegrated over time.

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Tapuanu Mask

TITLE: Tapuanu Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Micronesia, Federated States of
SUBREGION: Nomoi (Mortlock) Islands
ETHNICITY: Micronesian
DESCRIPTION: Tapuanu Mask
CATALOG ID: OCFM002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Soutapuana Society
FUNCTION: Agriculture; Protection; Secret Society
AGE: late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: breadfruit tree wood
OTHER MATERIALS: natural pigments (lime and coal)

The Micronesian islands are inhabited by an ethnic mix of Melanesian, Polynesian and Filipino peoples. The Nomoi Islands (formerly known as the Mortlock Islands) are a group of three large atolls in the Chuuk region of Micronesia: Satawan, Etal, and Lukunor. The Micronesian people have only a single kind of face mask, known as tapuanu, and created by the Soutapuana Society. The mask represents a protective ancestor spirit, and is danced in beachside and sacred house ceremonies to ward off typhoons that might harm the breadfruit tree, an important source of food for the inhabitants of the islands. The tapuanu can also frighten away ghosts that steal food.

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Mayo Fariseo

TITLE: Mayo Fariseo
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Sonora
ETHNICITY: Mayo
DESCRIPTION: Fariseo (Chapayeka) Mask in the form of a javelina
CATALOG ID: LAMX123
MAKER: Francisco Gamez (Masiaca, Navojoa, Sonora)
CEREMONY: Holy Week (Fariseo Dance-Drama)
FUNCTION: celebration; purification; social control
AGE: early 2010s
MAIN MATERIAL: javelina leather and fur
OTHER MATERIALS: wood; paint; string; hardware

The Yaqui and related Mayo people inhabit the desert in the Mexican state of Sonora and southern Arizona. Their religious beliefs are a syncretic version of traditional animist practices and Jesuitical Catholicism. The fariseos (Mayo) or chapayekas (Yaqui) are an important society in both communities and are mainly active during the three months surrounding Holy Week. The fariseos in theory represent Pharisees, or the Jews (judios) who supposedly condemned Jesus (it was actually the Romans), and are always represented by leather helmets with wood or painted faces.

Fariseos are organized by a society, with each celebration having a fariseo cabo (head Pharisee) who goes unmasked and organizes the dancers. To join the fariseo society, an applicant must be endorsed by a godfather (padrino) who is already a fariseo, and a godmother (padrina) who is a singer.

Fariseos usually begin dancing for several hours at the houses where idols of saints are kept, and then they come to dance in the town ramadas in the plaza, where the pasko’olas, deer dancer, and coyote dancers have been dancing.

In some village ceremonies, the fariseos, representing evil, repeatedly attack the church and are repelled by Christians throwing flowers. In others, unmasked fariseos represent the Roman persecutors of Christ bearing wooden swords and have battles with masked Christian caballeros (cavalry). Ultimately, the fariseos are defeated and convert to Christianity.  In still other villages, the fariseos follow the procession of the icons of the church and mimic searching for Jesus. Dancing as a fariseo is believed to put the dancer in the good graces of Jesus. When the masked fariseos dance, the dancer holds a rosary with a cross in his mouth during the ceremony to ward off evil.

Normally, all fariseo masks except two are burned after Holy Week. More are made in preparation for the following year. The two that are preserved are kept to be buried with any member of the fariseo society who happens to die during that year. Once worn, the masks are considered sacred objects, because the fariseos pray while dancing.

During Holy Week, the fariseo society takes over most of the legal, police, and religious ceremonies of the Yaqui and Mayo villages. For example, working was traditionally prohibited on Ash Wednesday, and anyone caught working would be brought before the fariseo cabo and fined or, if he or she had no money, forced to drag a heavy mesquite cross along the procession route. At Lent, the fariseos go from house to house, collecting donations for the Fiesta de la Gloria and other religious celebrations.

This mask is made of javelina leather and exaggerates the grotesque aspect of the fariseo by having a wooden penis emerge from and disappear into his mouth where his tongue would be, pulled by a string.

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Rangda (Calonarang)

TITLE: Rangda (Calonarang)
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Bali
ETHNICITY: Balinese
DESCRIPTION: Rangda Ing Girah (Calonarang) Mask
CATALOG ID: ASID015
MAKER: Ida Wayan Tangguh (Singapadu, 1935-2016)
CEREMONY: Barong Dance; Calonarang
AGE: 2012
MAIN MATERIAL: pule wood
OTHER MATERIALS: gold-plated silver; glass; buffalo leather; paint; gold paint; horse hair

The Rangda Ing Girah (“Widow of Girah Village”) is a creature of ambiguous significance in Balinese religious traditions. In Bali, she is typically referred to as Calonarang, which is also the name of her performance. Technically, she is a child-eating demon and queen of the evil witches (leyak). In the Calonarang performance, she seeks vengeance when the King Erlangga refuses to wed her beautiful daughter, Ratna Manggali. She leads her army of apprentices against the forces of good, represented by the protective Barong and his allies. Her many witch-apprentices include Rarung, Lenda, Lendi, Gandi, Weksirsa, Jaran Guyang, and Mahesa Wedan.

She has many affinities to the destructive Hindu god Kali, worshiped in parts of India, but she also seems to be associated with the Javanese mythical witch, also called Calonarang. Nonetheless, the Rangda mask is a sacred object of worship and usually kept in a temple, with protective associations. Rangda masks are taken out to perform dances and ceremonies on major holidays, most notably the Kunti Sraya, or Barong Dance.

This specific Rangda was the last made by the master craftsman, I. Wayan Tangguh of Singapadu, a few years before he died.

For more on Balinese masks, see Judy Slattum, Masks of Bali: Spirits of an Ancient Drama (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992).


Video of a Barong Ceremony in Bali, Indonesia, 2018.

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Cherokee Booger

TITLE: Cherokee Booger
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: North America
COUNTRY: United States of America
SUBREGION: North Carolina
ETHNICITY: Cherokee
DESCRIPTION: Booger mask
CATALOG ID: NAUS080
MAKER: Luther “Toby” Hughes (Westville, Oklahoma)
CEREMONY: Booger Dance
AGE: 1994
MAIN MATERIAL: cedar wood
OTHER MATERIALS: horsehair; pigment; leather straps

In the Eastern Cherokee Nation, the booger (tsu’nigadu’li) dance forms an important part of the winter celebration to discourage evil spirits from disrupting the coming growing season.  The boogers themselves represent the evil spirits, and they traditionally portrayed grotesque faces seeking to fight, chase women, and create general havoc. Following colonization, the booger dancers focused their misdeeds especially on satirizing the insolence, foolishness, and lust of European colonists toward the Cherokee women.

Booger masks could be made of wood, gourds, or carved wasp nests. This mask was made by Luther “Toby” Hughes, a member of the Keetowah Band who was designated a Living National Treasure in 1994, the same year this mask was made.

For more on Cherokee masked dance, see Frank G. Speck & Leonard Broom, Cherokee Dance and Drama (University of Oklahoma Press 1951).

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Maximón Mask

TITLE: Maximón Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Solalá
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: Maximón (St. Simon) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT025
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Protection; Spirit Invocation
AGE: 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; glass marbles; glue

Maximón, a common Mayan pronunciation of St. Simón, is a complex and somewhat obscure figure. He seems to be the descendant of the pre-conquest Mayan god Mam, a sacred trickster whom the Catholic invaders associated with the Devil (as they did with nearly all local gods). He was worshiped in shrines as a protector of the village, but with the advent of Catholicism, the missionaries sought to convert the practice to saint worship, in this case worship of Simon the Zealot, reputedly a cousin of Jesus of Nazareth. Nonetheless, the image of Mam remains, as the Mayan descendants of Guatemala propitiate Maximón with offerings of liquor and cigarettes, along with the more traditional Catholic offerings of candles and flowers.  The shrine typically moves from house to house annually in any given village, although some villages have more than one shrine.

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama(University of New Mexico Press, 2006).

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Yao Shaman Mask

TITLE: Yao Shaman Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: China
SUBREGION: Yunnan
ETHNICITY: Yao
DESCRIPTION: Shamanic Mask
CATALOG ID: ASCN011
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Shamanic rituals
FUNCTION: healing; hunting; protection; spirit invocation
AGE: ca. 1910s
MAIN MATERIAL: charred wood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A

The Yao people inhabit southern China and northern Vietnam, with small enclaves in Thailand, Burma, and Laos. They have syncretic Daoist and animist religious beliefs. Yao shamans use wooden masks to invoke god spirits for protection or successful hunting expeditions. Shamans may also use the masks to heal the sick.

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Iroquois False Face Mask

TITLE: Iroquois False Face Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: North American
COUNTRY: Canada
SUBREGION: Ontario
ETHNICITY: Iroquois (Onandaga)
DESCRIPTION: Broken Nose False Face Mask
CATALOG ID: NACA006
MAKER: Gene Thomas, Wolf Clan (Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, 1958- )
CEREMONY: Divination; Healing; Purification; Secret Society
AGE: 2010
MAIN MATERIAL: white pine wood
OTHER MATERIALS: copper sheet; horse hair; paint

The Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá-ka) belong to the Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee) and historically inhabited western New York state, as well as parts of Quebec and Ontario, before being displaced by Dutch and British settlers.  They maintain tribal lands in Ontario and Quebec today, reserved by treaty.

Most Iroquois nations, including the Onandaga, had three medicine societies, one of which was the False Face Society.  It is probably no longer a secret society, because although its membership is limited to initiates who have been cured by the Society or had an important dream, most persons in modern Iroquois communities are apparently aware of the Society’s membership.

Among the important rituals of the False Face Society are village purification of diseases, the healing of sick persons, and facilitation of dream fulfillment during the midwinter festival. The masks worn by the Society take a variety of forms, mostly with blowing lips to blow healing ashes on a sick patient.  The copper eyes convey the spirituality of the mask.

For more on Iroquois masking traditions, see William N. Fenton, The False Faces of the Iroquois (University of Oklahoma Press, 1987).

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Kolam Maneme Moonu

TITLE: Kolam Maneme Moonu
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Sri Lanka
ETHNICITY: Sinhalese
DESCRIPTION: Maneme Moonu (Prince) Mask
CATALOG ID: ASLK003
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Kolam Natima
AGE: 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: kadura (Strychnox nux vomica) wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The masked dance of Sri Lanka developed from shamanic healing and purification rituals, and  split along two lines.  The first, Yakun Natima, is the healing dance performed by a shaman.  Each demon (yakku) represents a specific disease or ailment, and to invoke the demon, the shaman wears a mask depicting the symptoms or symbols of the disease. When performing as a group, a character known as Kola Sanni Yakka, who is a kind of amalgamation of all diseases, presides over the demons.

The second line, Kolam Natima is a storytelling dance drama involving 40 masked characters of very diverse types. The story originates in a myth of a pregnant Sinhalese queen who develops a craving to see masked dances. She begs her husband, the king, to arrange it, but he knows of no such dances. At his request, the god Sekkria, one of the four guardian gods, carves the masks and teaches the people how to perform the dance. They perform for the royal audience, and the baby is consequently born strong and healthy. The stories told with the masks are not a single cohesive narrative, but a series of stories that merge Sinhalese folk traditions with Buddhist Jataka stories, which tell of the former lives of the Buddha.

A Kolam Natima performance begins with ritual addresses to gods and the Buddha. What follows is a prologue showing brief stock, mostly comical, scenes from traditional Sri Lankan society.  Finally, the king and the queen in very large masks enter with their retinue, whence they watch the dance.  The performance ends with the dance, typically involving Gara demons, Nagas (snake demons) and the Garuda (a Naga-eating god-bird) who were eventually reconciled by the Buddha. The performance is intended to purify the village and to spread prosperity.

This mask represents the maneme moonu, a prince and one of several royal characters in the Kolam drama.

For more on the masks of Sri Lanka, see Alain Loviconi, Masks and Exorcisms of Sri Lanka (Paris: Éditions Errance, 1981).

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Tsam Damdinchoijoo

TITLE: Tsam Damdinchoijoo
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Mongolia
ETHNICITY: Mongol
DESCRIPTION: Damdinchoijoo (Yama) Mask
CATALOG ID: ASMN001
MAKER: Gankhuyag (GanNa) Natsag (Ulaanbaatar, 1961- )
CEREMONY: Ikh Khuree Tsam Dance
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: paper maché
OTHER MATERIALS: plaster; paint; cloth; cotton wadding; tempera paint; lacquer

The Hindu-Buddhist Tsam dance crossed the Himalayas from India in the late medieval age and became a popular ritual in northern India and throughout Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.  From Tibet, it reached Mongolia in the early nineteenth century and was soon adopted by Buddhist monasteries there.  The dance is performed on major religious holidays to invoke protective spirits and purify the region of evil influences.

This mask represents Damdinchoijoo, also known as Yama, the god of death, who judges whether the dead descend to the underworld to rise to paradise. In Hindu-Buddhist mythology, he is the son of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death. In the Tsam dance, he holds a magical weapon resembling a skeleton and a bowl made from a human skull.

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