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Hormega Mask

TITLE: Hormega Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Puebla
ETHNICITY: Nahua
DESCRIPTION: Hormega Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX093
MAKER: Silverio Ochoa Martínez (San Juan Xiutetelco, 1944- )
CEREMONY: Danza de los Santiagueros
AGE: 1982
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Danza de los Santiagueros (Dance of the Saint James’s) is based on a mythical story of St. James the Apostle (Santiago el Apostól) exacting revenge on the enemies of Jesus, especially Pontius Pilate (Pilato, sometimes called Rey Pilato).  St. James may or may not wear a mask, but Pilato usually does.  Accompanying each side are their allies, santiagueros (not to be confused with St. James himself, who appears on pseudo-horseback, represented by a wooden horse figure tied around his waist) and pilatos (little Pontius Pilates) respectively.

The santiagueros wear red masks, and in some towns they have long noses and are called hormegas, a term with no known definition and whose origin is obscure.

For more on masks from Puebla, see Bryan J. Stevens, Mexican Masks and Puppets: Master Carvers of the Sierra de Puebla (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Pub’g, 2012).

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Atoni Mask

TITLE: Atoni Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: West Timor
ETHNICITY: Atoni
DESCRIPTION: Handheld mask
CATALOG ID: OCID012
MAKER: Unknown
FUNCTION: Status
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: polished hardwood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A

The Atoni people make up the largest ethnic group on the island of Timor, which is politically divided between independent Timor-Leste to the east and Indonesian West Timor. The Atoni use two kinds of masks.  Ancestor masks are used for funerals, adult initiation, war victory celebrations, and other ceremonies commemorating major social events. Handheld masks like this one are used for a quite different purpose. It is believed that these masks were used for a socially acceptable form of stealing when a villager encountered hardship. By covering his face with a mask, the mask takes the blame for the theft and the person wearing it is exonerated. The mask thus helps the villager maintain “face,” as it were.

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Bamana N’tomo Mask

TITLE: Bamana N’tomo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Mali
ETHNICITY: Bamana (Bambara)
DESCRIPTION: Painted N’tomo Society Mask
CATALOG ID: AFML002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Secret Society; Social Control; Status
AGE: Late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; hardware repair

The Bamana people, sometimes called Bambara, are one of the largest ethnic groups in Mali. They have six major secret societies of different levels of prestige that conduct adult initiation rituals. Initiates are taught survival skills, social customs, and religious principles. The N’tomo Society originally comprised only uncircumcised boys and teaches the virtues of silence and discipline. For this reason, the N’tomo Society masks tend to have small, closed mouths.

Many Bamana masks also have brass plating, unlike this one.  Blacksmithing and metallurgy play an important role in the N’tomo Society, so a brass covering greatly increases the status of a mask. However, the Bamana people, like many African peoples, are also fond of bright colors and use paint to increase the appeal of their masks.

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Piaroa Warime Mask

TITLE: Piaroa Warime Mask
TYPE: crown mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Venezuela
SUBREGION: Orinoco River Basin
ETHNICITY: Piaroa
DESCRIPTION: De’aruwa Ime
CATALOG ID: LAVE001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Warime Ritual
AGE: 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: bark cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: wicker; dried grass; beeswax; pigment

The Piaroa people inhabit the Orinoco River Basin region of Venezuela and northern Brazil. They are an extremely peaceful people with a political structure that anthropologists describe as nearly anarchic.

The warime ceremony is the biggest festival of Piaroa society. It includes a purification ritual in which masqueraders represent animal spirits and proclaim their deeds of the year to the tribe, good and bad, to seek respectively praise or forgiveness. This mask is called De’aruwa Ime and is worn straight up on the head, with macaw feathers coming out of the top, with the face and body covered in a dried plant fiber suit. Some believe this mask to represent a peccary. Other De’aruwa masks may represent a monkey, vampire bat, or bee (redyo). Masqueraders must receive religious instruction from a shaman beforehand, and his incantation is accompanied by music on traditional instruments.

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Bidjogo Dugn-be

TITLE: Bidjogo Dugn-be
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Guinea-Bissau
SUBREGION: Bissagos Islands
ETHNICITY: Bidjogo
DESCRIPTION: Dugn-be (Village Ox) helmet mask
CATALOG ID: AFGW001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Adult Initiation
AGE: 1970s-1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: plant fiber; cotton strips; kaolin clay

The Bidjogo people (also written Bijogo or Bidyogo) are a small ethnic group inhabiting coastal Guinea-Bissau. They continue to practice their animistic religion, resisting conversion to Islam unlike many neighboring peoples.  Their masks are primarily used in manratche, the adult initiation ritual for boys. There are actually multiple initiation rituals in Bidjogo society, ranking boys based on their age group. Unlike most African ethnic groups, the Bidjogo do not have specialized carvers; instead, each family makes its own masks.

The ox is an unusual masking choice in Africa, because normally masks are intended to invoke the power of wild animals and their special traits. In contrast, oxen are domesticated (dugn-be means literally “ox raised in the village”), brought to the Bidjogo by Portuguese traders late in the fifteenth century. The Bidjogo economy soon began to revolve domesticated cattle at least as much as their traditional fishing.

Initiates in the middle age group of boys wear the masks to celebrate the wild nature of post-puberty life. Masqueraders imitate the ox’s aggressive behavior. Initiation masks are critical to achieving the social status necessary for creating objects of religious worship used for entering the afterworld where the deceased becomes one with the Bidjogo god.

The Bidjogo use four different kinds of bull masks. The white triangle at the center of its upper brow marks this mask as a dugn’be. Dancers wear the mask attached to a long, cylindrical wood or wicker neck that rests on their shoulders with a raffia costume.

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Kuba Mukenga Mask

TITLE: Kuba Mukenga Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Congo, Dem. Rep. of
SUBREGION: Western Kasai
ETHNICITY: Kuba
DESCRIPTION: Mukenga helmet mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Funeral; Secret Society; Status
AGE: ca. 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: wood; glass beads; cowrie shells; leopard fur; thread; plant fiber; metal plating

The Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of Congo have several masks associated with royalty. The mukenga mask is associated with the highest status of the Babende initiation society through its invocation of the most powerful forest animals, the leopard and the elephant (note its trunk-like crest). Cowrie shells and glass beads were valuable trade goods and their use denotes wealth and status.

Mukenga masks are danced at funerals of titled nobility by members of the mukenga society. Because the mukenga masquerader has no vision (the helmet mask has no eye holes), attendants assist him to remain within the dance area. The mukenga dancer represents an important person visiting the village to pay respects to the deceased.

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Parachico (Patrón) Mask

TITLE: Parachico (Patrón) Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Chiapas
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: Patrón de Parachicos (Boss of Parachicos) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX002
MAKER: Unknown maker in Chiapa de Corzo
CEREMONY: Fiesta de San Sebastián
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: cedar wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil paint; lacquer; glass eyes; synthetic eyelashes

The Baile de los Parachicos is unique to Chiapas, the southernmost region of Mexico, and is most commonly performed in Chiapa de Corzo and Suchiapa.  It may have pre-Columbian origins, but its modern version is believed to originate in the myth of a wealthy Spanish noblewoman whose sick child could not be cured by doctors in Guatemala. She eventually brought him north to Chiapas, and a Mayan priest recommended she bathe in the healing waters of Cumbujuyú for nine days.  After the child recovered, the woman held a feast of thanksgiving and her servants danced for the children. Hence the name, parachico, meaning “for the little boy.”  In modern times, the parade is held during the holiday of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of Chiapa de Corzo.

The dance begins with a parade of the parachicos through the streets led by a patrón, or boss (represented by this mask), which is somewhat more elaborate and distinctive than the others. All parachicos wear black pants with colorful embroidered designs, white shirt, a bright sarape, black leather boots, and they carry a tin rattle (sonaja).  As they parade, they echo phrases shouted by the patrón, such as:

“¡Vivan los que ya no pueden, muchachos!” (“Long live those who can’t do it any longer, boys!” or “Long live the elders!”)

“¡Viva el gusto de nosotros, muchachos!” (“Long live our shared tastes, boys!” or “Long live our traditions!”)

“¡Viva la mano poderosa, muchachos!” (“Long live the powerful hand, boys!” or “Long live God’s will!”)

“¡Viva la pandilla rica, muchachos!” (“Long live the rich gang, boys!” or “Long live the parachicos!”)

They may also shout out more or less improvised verses, devout or comical, such as “Little mermaid, little mermaid, sea mermaid, Praise the Holy One and señor St. Sebastián” or “Passing by your window, you threw me a lemon, the lemon hit my face, and went straight to my heart.”

They then perform a group dance to the sound of drums and marimba, guitar, or other instruments. Women in brightly colored floral dresses may accompany them in less formal dances.

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Shamanic Mask

TITLE: Shamanic Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Nepal
SUBREGION: Middle Hills
ETHNICITY: Gurung or Magar
DESCRIPTION: Shamanic Mask
CATALOG ID: ASNP009
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Healing; Purification
AGE: mid-twentieth century
MAIN MATERIAL: charred wood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A

This mask originates in the middle hills area of the Himalaya mountains, either from the Gurung or Magar people. Such masks are among the most primitive in use in the world, and are made by carving wood, coating it with yak butter fat, and charring it over a smoky fire.

The shaman plays an important social role as the channeler of spirits for healing, purification, and protection of those under his supervision. Masks help the shaman embody one of the spirits that surround the living world and use it to heal the sick, drive away evil influences, and guide villagers through changes in their lives (birth, adulthood, changes in social status, death) that might be affected by the spirit world. When hung in a house, the mask serves a protective function.  The Magar and Gurung people use very similar masks for identical purposes.

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Kyōgen Usobuki

TITLE: Kyōgen Usobuki
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Usobuki Kyodomen Mask
CATALOG ID: ASJP018
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Kyōgen Dance Drama
AGE: Unknown
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: horsehair; paint; lacquer

Kyōgen is a popular form of Japanese theater. It was traditionally used in village plays and developed alongside Noh theater, where it was performed at intermissions.  Unlike Noh, which tends to have serious themes, the kyōgen generally takes the form of comedic plays.

The usobuki (sometimes transliterated usofuki) (“air blower”) is a comical character who appears to be blowing mightily. It is commonly thought to derive from a folk story about a boy named Hyottoko, who could produce gold from his belly button.  It is used in different plays to represent a wide variety of roles, including a sinner on his way to the underworld, a scarecrow, insect spirits, and even plant spirits.


To watch a short documentary about Japanese Nogaku (Noh drama and Kyogen plays), click above.

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Diablo-Calavera

TITLE: Diablo-Calavera
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Michoacán
ETHNICITY: Purépecha
DESCRIPTION: Diablo-Calavera (Devil-Skull) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX066
MAKER: Manuel Horta Ramos (Tocuaro)
CEREMONY: Pastorela
AGE: 2015
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: plaster; maque

The Pastorela is the ceremonial dance drama of Michoacán state in Mexico. Pastorelas, performed in February during the Shrovetide season, are primarily religious in significance. The main characters of the Dance of the Shepherds are the Devil, the Archangel Michael, shepherds, and a hermit (who paradoxically represents the ancestors of the performers).  The drama revolves around the attempts of Lucifer and his demon minions to steal the baby Jesus.  Other dramas performed on the occasion include the Dance of the Negritos (dance of the little blacks), relating to the importation of African slaves into Mexico by the Spaniards, and which includes an army of elegantly dressed “little Maries” (Maringuillas), like the one represented by this mask, and feos, or ugly clowns.

This mask was carved by Manuel Horta, one of a famous extended family of carvers from the town of Tocuaro, in 2015.

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