TITLE: Longino Moryonan (Moriones) Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Philippines
SUBREGION: Marinduque
ETHNICITY: Filipino (Tagalog)
DESCRIPTION: Moryonan mask representing Longino (Longinus)
CATALOG ID: ASPH002
MAKER: Benedicto Malapote (Boac, 1962- )
CEREMONY: Moryonan Festival
AGE: 2024
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: horsehair; adhesive; paint; hardware; elastic bands
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 wood and fiber helmet masks in imitation of the Roman legionary’s galea.
One of the crucial characters in the Moryanan Festival is Longinus, or Longino in the local dialect. Longinus is not a character in the Christian Bible, but according to post-biblical myths, he was a centurion blind in one eye, who in Christian mythology pierced the side of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua bar Yosef) with his spear. The blood that came from Jesus’ wound struck Longinus’ blind eye and healed him, converting him to Christianity. This conversion resulted in Longinus’ own beheading, and thus his martyrdom and eventual sainthood. This mask represents Longinus before the crucifixion; the post-crucifixion mask has two normal eyes.
