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Diablo Mask

TITLE: Diablo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Ecuador
SUBREGION: Otavalo
ETHNICITY: Mestizo
DESCRIPTION: Blue Diablo (Devil) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAEC002
MAKER: Unknown maker in Otavalo
CEREMONY: Fiesta de la Mama Negra
AGE: 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Fiesta de la Mama Negra (Festival of the Black Mama) is a celebration held in September and again in early November in Latacunga, Ecuador. The event originates in pre-colonial indigenous practices and was adapted to honor the Virgin of Mercy (Virgen de la Merced) after Catholic conversion, in thanks for her supposed  intervention to protect the population from eruptions from the nearby Cotopaxi volcano.  The festival has become one of the most important in Latacunga, and includes a parade (comparsa) featuring the Mama Negra prominently as an African version of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Other important masks include animals, the Rey Moro (King Moor, showing the influence of the Conquistadors), angels, clowns (payasos abanderados), shamans (huacos), and miscellaneous other characters. The Devil, portrayed here, also usually makes an appearance.

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Kusillo Mask and Costume

TITLE: Kusillo Mask and Costume
TYPE: hood mask; costume
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Peru
SUBREGION: Puno
ETHNICITY: Aymara; Quechua
DESCRIPTION: Kusillo mask and costume
CATALOG ID: LAPE009
MAKER: Unknown maker in Puno
CEREMONY: Agriculture/Hunting; Carnival
AGE: 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: dyed wool felt
OTHER MATERIALS: yarn; cardboard; sequins; cotton batting

The kusillo is an Andean clown character that combines attributes of an insect, shepherd, and devil, although he is considered a benevolent trickster. It is one of the oldest masked characters in the region, predating the Spanish conquest. It is used in both Bolivia and Peru as a comic dancer, as well as a promoter of fertility during agricultural and hunting rites. Until the 1960s, the kusillos formed their own dance group, however, with their own music and group choreography. In modern times, he makes his appearance alone or in pairs during Carnival, along with the waka tokhoris or other groups, and sometimes at other festivities as well.

The upturned nose and appendages on the head are thought to be phallic symbols, expressing the kusillo‘s nature as a promoter of fertility. In addition, the kusillo tries to seduce girls in the crowd, reflecting both his fertility and trickster roles.  To facilitate this behavior, socially unacceptable otherwise, he wears white gloves and long pants to prevent recognition.

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Iban Shaman Mask

TITLE: Iban Shaman Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Malaysia
SUBREGION: Borneo (Sarawak)
ETHNICITY: Dayak (Iban)
DESCRIPTION: Shaman Mask
CATALOG ID: OCMY001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Unknown
FUNCTION: Agriculture; Purification
AGE: 1930s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: natural pigment

Not much is known about the masked ceremonies of the Iban people of Sarawak, Borneo Island. This mask dates to the 1930s, possibly earlier, and represents a demon.  It has affinities to the masks of other Dayak peoples elsewhere on Borneo. Such masks were most probably used to drive away evil spirits from the village during important ceremonies, such as funerals, and from crop fields.

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Negrito Mask

TITLE: Negrito Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Bolivia
SUBREGION: Oruro
ETHNICITY: Quechua and Aymara
DESCRIPTION: Negrito (Little Black Man) Mask
CATALOG ID: LABO024
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Carnival (La Negrada)
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: tin
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; glue; glitter

The negrito is the less common of the two kinds of dark-skinned characters in the Carnival of Oruro, Bolivia. Unlike the moreno, who represent the Moorish invaders of Spain, the negrito represents the progeny of African slaves brought to Bolivia to work the mines and farms. Their costume is colorful and highly embellished, and their hats are frequently as large as the dancer’s body, sometimes decorated with giant spiders, ants, or other totemic animals.  Their dance, like the Morenada, is accompanied by female counterparts, but unlike the Moors, the negritos frequently play musical instruments as they dance, such as drums, guitars, or the güiro scraper shown in this photo.

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

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Pee Ta Khon

TITLE: Pee Ta Khon
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Thailand
SUBREGION: Dan Sai
ETHNICITY: Thai
DESCRIPTION: Pee Ta Khon (Ghost) Mask
CATALOG ID: ASTH001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Pee Ta Khon (Ghost Festival)
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: palm spathe
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; wood; sawdust paste; rattan rice strainer; dyed cotton fabric

The Pee Ta Khon, also spelled Phi Ta Khon, is an annual ceremony held solely in Dan Sai, Thailand, over a three-day period between March and July. The precise date of the festival is determined by the town’s spiritual mediums. It is part of a larger Buddhist celebration known as Bun Luang or Bun Phawet, intended to earn spiritual merit for its participants.

On wan ruam (assembly day), the ghosts congregate and invite protection from the spirit of the Mun River on which Dan Sai sits. The ghosts then hold a series of games and a procession, symbolizing the festivities that followed the return of the Buddha after a long absence during which he was presumed dead.

In addition to the elaborate masks, which mingle the ferocious with the comedic, the ghosts where patchwork costumes, belts with bells, and carry a palad khik (giant wooden phallus), which they wave at females in the audience in token of fertility.

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Fasnet Old Man Mask

TITLE: Fasnet Old Man Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Germany
SUBREGION: Bavaria
ETHNICITY: Swabian (German)
DESCRIPTION: Alter Mann (Old Man) Mask
CATALOG ID: EUDE010
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Fasnet (Carnival)
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; leather straps; hardware

In many parts of Swabia and Bavaria, Carnival (usually called Fasnet or Fastnet in this region of Germany) is celebrated with parades of masked clowns (Narren) and characters lampooning local villager types. The beer-swiller, the gossip, and benign old man and woman, and the fool are all typically represented. This mask represents an alter Mann (old man).

Regrettably, the best texts on Carnival in Bavaria and Swabia are still available in German only: Heinz Wintermantel’s Hoorig, hoorig isch die Katz (Würzburg: Konrad Theiss, 1978) and Dick Eckert’s Die Werdenfelser Fasnacht und ihre Larven (Volk Verlag München, 2015).

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Kali Mask

TITLE: Kali Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Sri Lanka
ETHNICITY: Sinhalese
DESCRIPTION: : Kali Amma Mask
CATALOG ID: ASLK002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Kolam Natima
AGE: mid-twentieth century
MAIN MATERIAL: kadura (Strychnox nux vomica) wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The masked dance of Sri Lanka developed from shamanic healing and purification rituals, and  split along two lines.  The first, Yakun Natima, is the healing dance performed by a shaman.  Each demon (yakku) represents a specific disease or ailment, and to invoke the demon, the shaman wears a mask depicting the symptoms or symbols of the disease. When performing as a group, a character known as Kola Sanni Yakka, who is a kind of amalgamation of all diseases, presides over the demons.

The second line, Kolam Natima is a storytelling dance drama involving 40 masked characters of very diverse types. The story originates in a myth of a pregnant Sinhalese queen who develops a craving to see masked dances. She begs her husband, the king, to arrange it, but he knows of no such dances. At his request, the god Sekkria, one of the four guardian gods, carves the masks and teaches the people how to perform the dance. They perform for the royal audience, and the baby is consequently born strong and healthy. The stories told with the masks are not a single cohesive narrative, but a series of stories that merge Sinhalese folk traditions with Buddhist Jataka stories, which tell of the former lives of the Buddha.

A Kolam Natima performance begins with ritual addresses to gods and the Buddha. What follows is a prologue showing brief stock, mostly comical, scenes from traditional Sri Lankan society.  Finally, the king and the queen in very large masks enter with their retinue, whence they watch the dance.  The performance ends with the dance, typically involving Gara demons, Nagas (snake demons) and the Garuda (a Naga-eating god-bird) who were eventually reconciled by the Buddha. The performance is intended to purify the village and to spread prosperity.

This mask represents Kali Amma, a god who leapt from Durga’s brow in order to kill certain demons, but became so battle raged that she began killing everything in her path until Shiva stopped her by throwing himself under her feet. Kali is considered another side of Durga, but destructive and evil, and so she appears black and ferocious, with fangs.

For more on the masks of Sri Lanka, see Alain Loviconi, Masks and Exorcisms of Sri Lanka (Paris: Éditions Errance, 1981).

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Austrian Witch

TITLE: Austrian Witch
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Austria
ETHNICITY: German (Austrian)
DESCRIPTION: Witch (Hexe) Mask
CATALOG ID: EUAT012
MAKER: Josef “Sepp” Seidl, Sankt Veit im Pongau (1975- )
CEREMONY: Krampuslauf
AGE: 2011
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: goat leather and hair; wire mesh; paint; plastic helmet; hardware

Krampuslauf (the Krampus Parade) is a winter event that forms part of the Christmas festivities in much of Austria and parts of southern Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, and the Balkan states. From mid-November until the first week of December, many towns organize a parade of Krampuses, demons who represent evil spirits with frightening horned masks with sharp teeth and long, lolling tongues, typically in a suit of goat skin with loud cowbells attached to their belt.  They carry a whip of birch branches (a Rute) or a cowtail. Their function is to accompanying St. Nicholas, who rewards good children with treats and presents, while the Krampuses punish bad children by beating them with their whips or throwing them into wicker baskets on their backs to carry down to Hell for punishment. Although different regions celebrate Krampuslauf on different days, the traditional Krampus Day is December 5, and the traditional St. Nicholaus Day is December 6. Krampuses may march on both days.

Frequently the Krampuses are led or accompanied by a witch (Hexe), such as the one represented here, which was worn in the 2011 Krampuslauf in the Salzburg region.

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Javanese Punakawan

TITLE: Javanese Punakawan
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Java
ETHNICITY: Javanese
DESCRIPTION: Punakawan Mask
CATALOG ID: ASID037
MAKER: Ganuh Nugroho AdiNarimo, Surakarta, Java (1966-)
CEREMONY: Topeng Dance Drama
AGE: 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: pule wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Topeng dance drama of the island of Java centers around the political history of the region and are called Babad Dalem (Chronicles of the Kings) or Raket. The most popular story centers around the national hero Panji, whose consort Dewi Chandrakirana is abducted by the powerful King Klana Sewandana of Bantarangin. This mask represents a versatile character known as Punakawan, who acts as an advisor to nobles, a comedian, and a social critic. His name translates roughly to “friend in difficult times.” His pug nose and golden buck teeth are intended to make him look at once distinguished and clownish.

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Condor Mask

TITLE: Condor Mask
TYPE: helmet mask; accessory
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Bolivia
SUBREGION: Oruro
ETHNICITY: Quechua and Aymara
DESCRIPTION: Condor helmet mask
CATALOG ID: LABO018
MAKER: Hilarión Casas, La Paz
CEREMONY: Carnival (La Diablada)
AGE: early 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: tin sheet
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint
MATERIALS (rattle): tin sheet; oil paint; wood handle; chicken feathers

The lone condor leads the Diablada, the dance of the devils, in the Bolivian Carnival at Oruro without interacting with the other characters.  The condor is the symbol of the Bolivian Republic, and so the character combines patriotism with pre-Christian totemism. The character wears a full body condor suit, usually with adornments of the Bolivian national colors (red, green, and yellow).

This specific mask was made in La Paz by a skilled caretero (mask maker) in the early 1980s.  It was repainted in 2017 to cover the chipping caused by years of active use. It includes an elaborate matraca (rattle) in the shape of a condor, used sometimes by the condor himself, and other times by a diablesa or other character.

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

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