TITLE: Yangju Byeolsandae Miyal Halmi Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Korea
SUBREGION: Yangju, Gyeonggi Province
ETHNICITY: Korean
DESCRIPTION: Miyal Halmi (Old Grandmother) Mask
CATALOG ID: ASKR002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Byeolsandae Drama
FUNCTION: celebration; entertainment
AGE: 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: cotton hood; paint
Sandae noli is a type of masking tradition from the Gyeonggi region near Seoul, Korea. It was traditionally performed on seasonal holidays as part of an annual village festival. The drama is accompanied by music played on a small samhyeon yukgak ensemble, consisting of three aerophones, one chordophone, and two membranophones. The full performance involves dozens of characters in different masks.
This mask represents an old grandmother who has been abandoned by her husband, searched form him, and is finally reunited during the play. Unfortunately, he now has a younger concubine.
For more on Korean masquerade, see Jeon Kyung-wook, Korean Mask Dance Dramas: Their History and Structural Principles (Gyeonggi-do, Rep. of Korea: Youlhwadang Pub. 2005).
