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Guro Zamble

TITLE: Guro Zamble
TYPE: crest mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire
ETHNICITY: Guro
DESCRIPTION: Zamble Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCI018
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Celebration; Entertainment; Funeral
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Guro zamble mask represents a mythical animal resembling a cross between an antelope and crocodile.  It forms part of the trio of sacred masks with the gu and zaouli. In the past, gu was often presented as the wife of zamble, but in modern rituals she is usually represented as the wife of zaouli, which would make her zamble‘s mother. All three masks are cult objects to which sacrifices are periodically made to bring prosperity to the family that owns them and to drive away evil spirits.  In the past, the zamble may have been a “witch-hunter,” but today they are danced for celebrations and as entertainment, and also at funerals and to honor ancestors.  In this latter context, zamble is especially important, because it is the only nature spirit caught and tamed by an ancestor of the Guro people.

For more on Guro masking traditions, see Eberhard Fischer, Guro (Prestel, 2008) or Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, Guro (5 Continents Editions, 2016).

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Ded Moroz

TITLE: Ded Moroz
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Russia
SUBREGION: Unknown
ETHNICITY: Russian
DESCRIPTION: Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) Mask
CATALOG ID: EURU002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Novy God (New Year’s Holiday)
AGE: ca. 1950s
MAIN MATERIAL: paper maché
OTHER MATERIALS: primer; paint; lacquer; string

The character Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Frost, is a traditional Slavic version of Santa Claus, who delivers gifts to good children on New Year’s Eve, as opposed to Christmas. He was accompanied by Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), his granddaughter and helper, and is believed to live in the small western Russian town of Veliky Ustyug. He wears long, silver and blue robes and a red furred cap or snowflake crown, carries a magic staff, and sometimes rides a snow sled pulled by horses (troika). The character is believed to predate Christianity and originate in a Slavic winter wizard born of Slavic pagan gods.

The Soviet Union strongly discouraged depictions of Ded Moroz as bourgeois and religious, but remained popular nonetheless as the symbol of New Year’s Holiday, which replaced the forbidden Christmas. In fact, the Dynamo Regional Council, a Soviet fitness and sports promotion organization, organized the production and sale of many kinds of New Year’s mask in many towns, including Leningrad, Rzhev, Vyshny Vokochok, Saratov, and Yaroslavl. Witches, animals, doctors, and even masks representing the Devil were sold.

The masks were probably designed by the artist S.M. Nyuhin, but little is known about the specific craftswomen who made them. They were shaped from mashed paper on gypsum molds; dried with electric heaters; cut and pierced; primed with oil, chalk and glue; and painted and lacquered.

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Payaso Mask

TITLE: Payaso Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Chiapas
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: Leather payaso (clown) mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX006
MAKER: Unknown maker in Huistán
CEREMONY: Carnival
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: leather
OTHER MATERIALS: dyed cloth; metal grommets; ixtle fiber; plastic beads; brass bells; thread; string; pigment

Two types of clown participate in the Carnival of Huistán, Chiapas.  One wears white body paint and scarves over the face, and the other wears a distinctive leather mask like this one.  Both carry stalks of corn, suggesting the pre-Christian origin of the celebration in Mayan prayers for a bountiful harvest.

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Nuu-Chah-Nulth Killer Whale

TITLE: Nuu-Chah-Nulth Killer Whale
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: North America
COUNTRY: Canada
SUBREGION: British Columbia
ETHNICITY: Nuu-Chah-Nulth (Nootka)
DESCRIPTION: Wii-iits-stan-uup Kaa-kaa-whii (Killer Whale) Mask
CATALOG ID: NACA001
MAKER: Wilson “Buddy” George (Vancouver Island, 1958- )
CEREMONY: Potlatch
AGE: 2002
MAIN MATERIAL: red cedar wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; string

The Nuu-chah-nulth, formerly known as the Nootka, originally inhabited the western coast of Vancouver Island.  One of their important rituals is the potlatch.  A potlatch is a culturally important ceremony among the coastal indigenous Americans of British Columbia, held on many different occasions.  It could be held to celebrate a family member’s change in social status, such as a marriage, birth, death, or initiation into adulthood.  It could also be held to restore a person’s prestige after a loss in dignity, such as falling out of a canoe or making a hunting error.  The ceremony could last for one day or as long as three weeks, depending on the occasion and the wealth of the giver.

A potlatch typically included three important components: a feast, entertainment, and gift giving to the guests.  The entertainment consisted of singing and masked dancing.  The more lavish the gifts, feast, and entertainment, the greater the prestige gained by the giver.  Because masks and costumes were expensive and time-consuming to make, larger and more elaborate masks raised the prestige of the potlatch giver.  The masks themselves represented totemic animals such as the killer whale, raven, beaver, or shark, or else mythical figures and beasts, such as the Komokwa, Dzunukwa or Bukwus.

For more on masks of the coastal peoples of western Canada, see Peter MacNair, Robert Joseph & Bruce Grenville, Down from the Shimmering Sky: Masks of the Northwest Coast (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1998) and Edward Malin, A World of Faces: Masks of the Northwest Coast Indians (Portland: Timber Press, 1978).

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Javanese Sita

TITLE: Javanese Sita
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Java
ETHNICITY: Javanese
DESCRIPTION: Sita Mask
CATALOG ID: ASID035
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Wayang Wong Dance Drama
AGE: ca. 1930s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Wayang Wong dance drama retells parts of the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These epics revolve around the god Rama and his battle with the demon king Ravana, who has abducted Rama’s wife, Sita. Rama is the avatar (earthly embodiment) of the supreme god Vishnu. In the end, Rama retrieves her with the help of the wily monkey god, Hanuman.

This specific mask represents a character known as Sita, also spelled Sinta or Sintha in Indonesia, and has been well used.

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Sardinian Boe

TITLE: Sardinian Boe
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Italy
SUBREGION: Ottana, Sardinia
ETHNICITY: Italian (Sardinian)
DESCRIPTION: Boe (Ox) Mask
CATALOG ID: EUIT009
MAKER: Mario Cossu (Ottana, 1941- )
CEREMONY: Carnival; Festa di Sant’Antonio Abate
AGE: 2010
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint, leather cords

During the Festival of Sant’Antonio Abate, patron saint of the city of Ottana, Sardinia, and on Carnival as well, the Ottanese does as sos boes and sos merdules, two traditional masked characters.  In the Festival of Sant’Antonio, they appear at night before a raging bonfire (s’ogulone) to perform religious duties and begin the Carnival celebration, during which they will parade and enact an ancient drama.  The boes wear furry white sheep skins and ox masks like this one, along with very heavy cowbells (sonazzos) on a leather harness.  The merdules wear deformed white or black masks, representing the fatigue of the peasant oxherder, and a stick or rope whip. During the ceremony, the merdules will attempt to herd the boes, who resist and throw themselves on the ground until forced up again.  Eventually, a third character appears as a witch-like woman (sa filonzana) spinning raw wool, possibly representing the Greek Fate Clotho, who spun the thread of human life and decided where to cut it.

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Makonde Lipiko Face Mask

TITLE: Makonde Lipiko Face Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Tanzania
ETHNICITY: Makonde
DESCRIPTION: Lipiko Face Mask
CATALOG ID: AFTZ001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Mapiko
USE: Adult Initiation; Funeral; Spirit Invocation
AGE: ca. 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: pigment

The Makonde people inhabit the bordering region of Tanzania and Mozambique. They are a matrilineal society divided into clans governed by a chief and council. The Makonde are known as some of the most expert mask carvers in Africa, with two kinds of masks prevalent in their society.  Most Makonde lipiko masks are helmet masks worn with a body mask depicting a pregnant woman. This mask is a rarer face mask, made and used primarily by the Makonde of Tanzania.  Like other lipiko masks, it is used primarily for the mapiko dance held at adult initiation rituals for boys and girls and at funerals. The masquerader channels the spirit of dead ancestors through the mask.  Face masks, unlike helmet masks, are worn by stilt dancers.  During initiation, boys and girls are both taught how to make the masks and perform them.  Women perform their initiation away from the males, who never see the masquerade.

For more on the Makonde mapiko ceremony, see Paolo Israel, In Step with the Times: Mapiko Masquerades of Mozambique (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press 2014)

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Diablo Mask

TITLE: Diablo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Totonicapán
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: Diablo (Devil) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT035
MAKER: Unknown maker in San Cristóbal Totonicapán
CEREMONY: Morality plays
AGE: ca. 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; nails; glass

Devil characters appear in several dance-dramas in Guatemala, mainly for entertainment or religious instruction.  In the Totonicapán region, the Corrida de los Diablos (run of the devils) is a masked ceremony in which young men in body paint with devil masks charge through town to frighten the crowd.  In  the city of San Cristóbal Totonicapán, where this mask originates, devils are used in morality plays, dealing with such Catholic Church-approved topics as the struggle between an angel and devil for the soul of a sinner.

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama (University of New Mexico Press, 2006).

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Waka Waka

TITLE: Waka Waka
TYPE: body mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Bolivia
SUBREGION: Oruro
ETHNICITY: Quechua and Aymara
DESCRIPTION: Waka Waka (Cattle) Body Mask
CATALOG ID: LABO005
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Carnival (Waka Tokhoris)
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: cattle leather
OTHER MATERIALS: wood frame; cattle horns; paint

In the Carnival of Oruro, Bolivia, many different kinds of masked dances parade through the city.  One such group is the Waka Tokhoris, composed of boys or men dressed as elaborately decorated bulls, and toreadores, or elaborately decorated bull-fighters.  The dance of the Waka Tokhoris mimics and pokes fun at the Spanish tradition of bull fighting, a common passion during the colonial era.  Variations on this dance are performed throughout the Bolivian and Peruvian highlands.

For more on Bolivian masquerade, see Peter McFarren ed., Masks of the Bolivian Andes (La Paz: Editorial Quipus/Banco Mercantil SA, 1993).

Dances of the waka waka are used throughout the Andean highlands. Here is a video of a version from the Peruvian community of Phinaya from 2010, called the Waka Tinti dance, and is performed on the holiday in honor of the local patron saint.


Click above to watch a short documentary on Corpus Christi in Cusco, Peru.

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Lega Muminia Mask

TITLE: Lega Muminia Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Congo, Democratic Republic of
ETHNICITY: Lega
DESCRIPTION: Muminia Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD014
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Bwami Society
FUNCTION: Adult Initiation; Secret Society; Status
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay

The Lega people of the Democratic Republic of Congo use masks in a very wide variety of ways, but primarily for initiation into adulthood and to confirm status. The Bwami Society exercises authority over many aspects of social and religious life, including initiation.  All Lega masks are therefore Bwami Society masks. Small masks (lukwakongo) are used for identification and worn on the body or are hung on a fence to represent children of the ancestors. Larger masks, such as this muminia mask, are worn on the face or top of the head. The word muminia means “necessary for initiation” and is worn by both the lowest grade members of the Bwami Society and the two highest ranks (Yananio and Kindi).

For more on Lega masking traditions, see Daniel Biebuyck, Lega Culture: Art, Initiation, and Moral Philosophy among a Central African People (University of California Press, 1973).

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