TITLE: Moley Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Bhutan
SUBREGION: Western Bhutan
ETHNICITY: Ngalop
DESCRIPTION: Moley Mask
CATALOG ID: ASBT004
MAKER: Dwha Tshering (Thimpu, ?-?)
CEREMONY: Cham Dance
FUNCTION: Celebration; Entertainment; Social Control
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: paper maché
OTHER MATERIALS: plaster; paint
The Ngalop people inhabit western and central Bhutan and are originally of Tibetan origin. The ethnic group includes an estimated 710,000 persons. The Ngalop are primarily Tibetan Buddhist, and their masks are typically worn at monastery celebrations known as Cham Dances to bless the sowing of the grain, pray for a bountiful harvest, and entertain the public.
This mask is used in a comedic dance-drama known as Pholey Moley. The story centers around a pair of aristocratic warriors (pholey) and their fiancées (moley). While the warriors are off at war, their fiancées, accompanied by an old man and old woman, cavort with other men, represented by the bawdy atsara characters. In some places, such as Tangsibi, the play opens with dancing demons. The story typically begins with the introduction of the characters, who quickly begin flirting with each other, and often try to carry off the pholeys or moleys (or each other) for concupiscent purposes. Eventually, the pholey characters discover that the moleys have been with other men and punish them by calling off the wedding and cutting off the women’s noses. Finally, the old man and woman call in a doctor who, after being thoroughly abused, reattaches the noses of the fiancées, and all is (relatively) well.
