TITLE: Moryonan (Moriones) Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Philippines
SUBREGION: Marinduque
ETHNICITY: Filipino (Tagalog)
DESCRIPTION: Moryonan Mask
CATALOG ID: ASPH001
MAKER: Unknown maker in Marinduque
CEREMONY: Moryonan Festival
AGE: 2005
MAIN MATERIAL: palm wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; palm fibers; metal hinges & hardware; animal hair; rubber strips
Every year during Holy Week, Catholic inhabitants of the island of Marinduque stage a passion play in which some dress as Roman soldiers and Syrian mercenaries who persecute and ultimately crucify a man playing the role of Jesus to expiate the town’s sins. The soldiers, or Moryonan (usually called Moriones in the media) wear palm wood and fiber helmet masks in imitation of the Roman legionary’s galea. During the festival, the Morynonan parade through town for several days. Before Easter Sunday, they bring through town a bound Jesus figure (usually unmasked), who participates in a stage play with actors playing other Biblical roles, such as the pharisees and Pontius Pilate. Jesus is tortured with rope whips, and then driven through town carrying a cross, alongside two common criminals who are also whipped as they go. This part is known as the kalbaryuhan, or Via Crucis. Eventually they are symbolically crucified, and a partially blind soldier named Longino (Longinus) pierces his side to ensure he is dead (this character’s mask typically has one eye closed). Later that evening, Longino emerges with full sight, cured by the blood of the dead Jesus, and he is chased through the town, caught, and beheaded for having converted to Christianity (called the Pugutan). His lifeless body is then paraded around town to conclude the festival.
This specific mask was made in 2005 and used in the Moryonan Festival in Marinduque in 2006.
