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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: Ghost False Face Mask
CATALOG ID: NACA005
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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Yao Shaman Mask

TITLE: Yao Shaman Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Vietnam
SUBREGION: Northern Vietnam
ETHNICITY: Yao
DESCRIPTION: Shaman Mask
CATALOG ID: ASVN001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Shamanic rituals
FUNCTION: healing; hunting; protection; spirit invocation
AGE: ca. 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: dyed rice paper

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.

Yao masks often include a “horn” on top of the head that some speculate mimics the topknot (ushnisha) worn by the Buddha. Some Yao masks are painted, but because many Yao lack access to paint, they often cover their masks with dyed paper, as they have done here.

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Yaqui Pasko’ola Mask

TITLE: Yaqui Pasko’ola Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Sonora
ETHNICITY: Yaqui
DESCRIPTION: Brown Mañor mask with gila monster motif
CATALOG ID: LAMX119
MAKER: Julian M. Gonzalez
CEREMONY: Pasko’ola
FUNCTION: celebration; entertainment; funeral; protection
AGE: 2012
MAIN MATERIAL: cottonwood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; string; horse hair

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 pasko’olas (in the Spanish, pascolas) were malignant spirits, or children of the Devil, whom God won in a game. For that reason, their masks frequently have crucifixes and they wear a belt with twelve bells, each representing an apostle. To symbolize their evil origins, the masks have ugly expressions and vermin such as lizards, snakes and scorpions painted on them. In addition, dancers wear cords and butterfly cocoons on their legs, representing snakes and their rattles. They also wear a flower on their head, to symbolize rebirth and spring. They frequently play the role of clowns, provoking laughter in the audience by mimicking animals, reversing gender roles, organizing mock hunts, and making jokes.

Pasko’olas are danced at every major religious festival, as well as at birthdays, weddings, and funeral celebrations. For example, in Vicam, pasko’olas have traditionally danced on Día de San Juan Bautista (June 24). Sometimes a group of pasko’olas will be accompanied by a deer dancer, who dances with a taxidermy deer head as a crest. Generally, only men are pasko’ola dancers, but women have sometimes been allowed to dance with the permission of the male dancers.

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Yaqui Pasko’ola Mask

TITLE: Yaqui Pasko’ola Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Sonora
ETHNICITY: Yaqui
DESCRIPTION: Black Mañor mask with scorpion motif
CATALOG ID: LAMX127
MAKER: Ruben Hernández (Vicam)
CEREMONY: Pasko’ola
FUNCTION: celebration; entertainment; funeral; protection
AGE: early 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: cottonwood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; string; horse hair

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 pasko’olas (in the Spanish, pascolas) were malignant spirits, or children of the Devil, whom God won in a game. For that reason, their masks frequently have crucifixes and they wear a belt with twelve bells, each representing an apostle. To symbolize their evil origins, the masks have ugly expressions and vermin such as lizards, snakes and scorpions painted on them. In addition, dancers wear cords and butterfly cocoons on their legs, representing snakes and their rattles. They also wear a flower on their head, to symbolize rebirth and spring. They frequently play the role of clowns, provoking laughter in the audience by mimicking animals, reversing gender roles, organizing mock hunts, and making jokes.

Pasko’olas are danced at every major religious festival, as well as at birthdays, weddings, and funeral celebrations. For example, in Vicam, pasko’olas have traditionally danced on Día de San Juan Bautista (June 24). Sometimes a group of pasko’olas will be accompanied by a deer dancer, who dances with a taxidermy deer head as a crest. Generally, only men are pasko’ola dancers, but women have sometimes been allowed to dance with the permission of the male dancers.

This specific mask was carved by Ruben Hernández of Vicam, Sonora and used for 10 years by Reyno García of Pitaya.

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Kuker Mask

TITLE: Kuker Mask
TYPE: hood mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Bulgaria
ETHNICITY: Bulgarian
DESCRIPTION: Kuker Mask
CATALOG ID: EUBG001
MAKER: Elitsa Ilieva
CEREMONY: Christmas; Ephiphany; Sirni Zagovezni; Survakari; Kukerovden
AGE: 2012
MAIN MATERIAL: cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: sequins; plastic beads; thread

The dance of the kuker (plural, kukeri) is a pre-Christian ritual.  The word kuker comes from the Latin word for hood. In Bulgarian folklore, the kuker is a mythical monster that drive evil spirits away from the village.  Men dance as kukeri wearing suits of goat fur, leather, or cloth; masks of wood, leather, or goat fur; and heavy bronze bells.

During late winter festivals such as Christmas, Epiphany (January 6), or Sirni Zagovezni (the Sunday before Lent), the kukeri dance through the village streets to purify the village and ensure a successful planting season, visiting houses and blessing the inhabitants. The grotesque costumes and loud noise made by the bells are intended to frighten evil spirits away.  The kukeri may also perform in folk plays, such as Survakari and Kukerovden (The Day of the Kukers). In some villages, participation in the Kukerovden play was long considered an initiation ritual that a young man had to complete to qualify for marriage.

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Piaroa Warime Mask

TITLE: Piaroa Warime Mask
TYPE: crown mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Venezuela
SUBREGION: Orinoco River Basin
ETHNICITY: Piaroa
DESCRIPTION: De’aruwa Ime
CATALOG ID: LAVE001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Warime Ritual
AGE: 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: bark cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: wicker; dried grass; beeswax; pigment

The Piaroa people inhabit the Orinoco River Basin region of Venezuela and northern Brazil. They are an extremely peaceful people with a political structure that anthropologists describe as nearly anarchic.

The warime ceremony is the biggest festival of Piaroa society. It includes a purification ritual in which masqueraders represent animal spirits and proclaim their deeds of the year to the tribe, good and bad, to seek respectively praise or forgiveness. This mask is called De’aruwa Ime and is worn straight up on the head, with macaw feathers coming out of the top, with the face and body covered in a dried plant fiber suit. Some believe this mask to represent a peccary. Other De’aruwa masks may represent a monkey, vampire bat, or bee (redyo). Masqueraders must receive religious instruction from a shaman beforehand, and his incantation is accompanied by music on traditional instruments.

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Shamanic Mask

TITLE: Shamanic Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Nepal
SUBREGION: Middle Hills
ETHNICITY: Gurung or Magar
DESCRIPTION: Shamanic Mask
CATALOG ID: ASNP009
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Healing; Purification
AGE: mid-twentieth century
MAIN MATERIAL: charred wood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A

This mask originates in the middle hills area of the Himalaya mountains, either from the Gurung or Magar people. Such masks are among the most primitive in use in the world, and are made by carving wood, coating it with yak butter fat, and charring it over a smoky fire.

The shaman plays an important social role as the channeler of spirits for healing, purification, and protection of those under his supervision. Masks help the shaman embody one of the spirits that surround the living world and use it to heal the sick, drive away evil influences, and guide villagers through changes in their lives (birth, adulthood, changes in social status, death) that might be affected by the spirit world. When hung in a house, the mask serves a protective function.  The Magar and Gurung people use very similar masks for identical purposes.

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Leyak Mata Besik

TITLE: Leyak Mata Besik
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Bali
ETHNICITY: Balinese
DESCRIPTION: Leyak Mata Besik
CATALOG ID: ASID023
MAKER: Ida Ketut Berati (Singapadu, 1967- )
CEREMONY: Calonarang Dance Drama
AGE: 2013
MAIN MATERIAL: pule wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; horsehair; gold-plated silver; semi-precious stones; string; rubber strap

The Calonarang dance drama centers around the character known as Rangda (also called Calonarang), who is the queen of witches and represents the Hindu goddess of death, Durga. Each village in Bali has a temple honoring the dead, dedicated to Durga. A performance of Calonarang is rare today, but it may commemorate the anniversary of a temple, or it may be used to purify a village if a disease epidemic appears. Rangda challenges the local witches (leyak) to a display of power, and if she prevails, they must stop inflicting ills on the village. Calonarang also serves to educate about Indonesian history and entertain the audience.

Rangda has a number of leyak followers. They are believed to haunt graveyards, devour corpses, and have the power to fly and morph themselves into animals. This specific mask represents Leyak Mata Besik, a witch who has studied black magic under Rangda’s tutelage. The mask was carved and painted by the master craftsman I. Ketut Berati of Singapadu.

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

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Baule Klolo Mask

TITLE: Baule Klolo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
ETHNICITY: Baule
DESCRIPTION: Klolo (Elephant) Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCI014
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Purification; Spirit Invocation
AGE: ca. 1970s-1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay

Before major festivals, the Baule people sometimes dance masks representing potent animal spirits to purify the village. This mask represents the revered elephant and is known as klolo, or sometimes lébé.  The abstraction of this specific elephant mask is striking and greater than usual among its type.  It is likely that this mask is used in much the same way as the zi mask of the southern (Dje) Guro people, to which the klolo bears a strong resemblance. The zi mask represents a powerful spirit tamed by the village that is used to purify the village of harmful spirits, especially witchcraft.

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Yoruba Gelede Mask

TITLE: Yoruba Gelede Mask
TYPE: crest mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Yoruba
DESCRIPTION: Gelede Mask with Family Sculptures
CATALOG ID: AFNG012
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Gelede Society
AGE: early 2000s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The highly populous Yoruba people inhabit much of Nigeria and parts of Benin. The Gelede Society originates in cultural myths about Yemoja, the mother of all living things, who could not conceive children until she learned a dance with a wooden image on her head. The Gelede is named after Yemoja’s chubby daughter, and the dance therefore has a close connection with fertility rites. Nonetheless, the Gelede ceremony performs diverse functions in Yoruba society, including to pray for rain, purify the village of disease, to enlist spiritual help in wartime, and to honor the dead.

For more on the Gelede ceremony, see Babatunde Lawal’s incomparable monograph, The Gelede Spectacle (University of Washington Press, 1996).

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