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Español Mask

TITLE: Español Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Ecuador
SUBREGION: San Andres
ETHNICITY: Quechua; Aymara
DESCRIPTION: Español (Spaniard) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAEC012
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Corpus Christi
AGE: ca. 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wire mesh
OTHER MATERIALS: metal strips; pig hair; paint

In Ecuador, as in Peru, wire mesh masks and elaborate costumes are worn to celebrate Corpus Christi and promote a good harvest. A carved wooden image of Jesus is accompanied through the town to the local church, where dancers and their families attend Mass. They then dance in a local ceremony attended by most of the village. The masks and costumes are intended to represent and parody well-dressed Spanish dandies. Both costumes and masks are frequently adorned with coins to parody the wealth of the Spaniards. Each dancer is accompanied by his family and musicians throughout.

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Boruca Monkey Mask

TITLE: Boruca Monkey Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Costa Rica
SUBREGION: Reserva Rey Curré, Puntarenas
ETHNICITY: Boruca
DESCRIPTION: Warrior Mask in the Form of a Monkey
CATALOG ID: LACR002
MAKER: Hermes Morales (Rey Curré, -)
CEREMONY: Cagrúv Rójc (Fiesta de los Diablitos)
AGE: 2009
MAIN MATERIAL: balsa wood
OTHER MATERIALS: red pigment from achiote berry; black pigment from wood ash; white pigment from kaolin clay

The Boruca people mostly inhabit two reservations in the Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica. Technically, many persons classified as Boruca are members of neighboring indigenous peoples, such as the Coto and Quepo people, who have banded with the Boruca to preserve their traditions and relative independence. Their best known holiday is the Fiesta de los Diablitos (Festival of the Little Devils), properly called Cagrúv Rójc in the Boruca langauge, and held from December 30th to January 2nd each year. The ceremony represents a major community event and a retelling of the Spanish conquest of the Boruca people (represented by masked forest spirits known as diablos, but actually representing indigenous warriors).  All masqueraders are men. The diablos begin parading in the morning at the direction of an elder devil, el Diablo Mayor, representing the glory of the Boruca culture before the conquest.  On January 1st, a masquerader in a toro (bull) mask enters the festivities to represent the invading Spanish. The toro chases the diablos about the village. Although the diablos resist, the toro ultimately knocks down all the diablos, representing the Spanish victory.  Afterward, the diablos return to life, sending the toro into hiding while they hunt him with the help of a masquerader posing as a dog. Ultimately they find, capture, and symbolically burn the toro, signifying the end of the festival. The toro mask is not burned, but saved for the subsequent year’s ritual.

This mask, representing the diablo as a white-faced capuchin monkey (mono), was used in the 2009-10 festival.

Click above to watch a short documentary film about the Cagrúv Rójc ceremony of the Boruca people.

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Baule Gbagba

TITLE: Baule Gbagba
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
ETHNICITY: Baule
DESCRIPTION: Gbagba Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCI013
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Mblo Dance Drama
AGE: 1988
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: lacquer

The Baule Mblo ceremony combines dramatic scenes and individual dances and is possibly the most ancient Baule masking tradition. The gbagba dancer participating in Mblo wears a mask flatteringly portraying a respected member of the community and skilled dancer, usually (as here) female. The person portrayed is expected to accompany the masquerader in dance. The dark and shining skin indicates health. The intricately carved and elaborate hairstyle, teeth filed to sharp points, and traditional facial scarification represent the Baule version of ideal beauty. The dance is performed to the music of drummers and singers. To avoid insulting the person portrayed, only the most practiced dancers may wear a gbagba, and gbagba masks are stored out of sight when not in use.

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Pedro de Alvarado Mask

TITLE: Pedro de Alvarado Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Unknown
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: Pedro de Alvarado Mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT007
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Baile de la Conquista
AGE: 1975
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; glass eyes; glue

The Baile de la Conquista (Dance of the Conquest) retells the conquest of the Mayan Empire by the Spanish conquistadors.  The leader of the conquistadors in the area now known Guatemala was Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras (1485-1541), who participated in the subjugation of Cuba, Mexico, and most of central America, and eventually the governor of Guatemala. His viciousness made him especially hated by the indigenous population.

The dance began as early as the 16th century, and begins with the arrival of Spanish ambassadors to the K’ich’e king, along with princes and princesses (Malinches). The king seeks support for resistance from the governor of Xelajú, named Tecún Umán, who appears with his lieutenant, Huitzitzil Zunun, and priest, Ajitz. This leads to a battle, in which Alvarado duels with Tecún Umán, who is killed, resulting in the conversion of the conquered K’ich’e people to Catholicism.

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

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Songye Kifwebe Kilume

TITLE: Songye Kifwebe Kilume
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Democratic Republic of the Congo
ETHNICITY: Songye
DESCRIPTION: Bwadi Society Kifwebe Kilume male mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD018
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe Society
FUNCTION: Adult Initiation; Secret Society; Social Control; Social Status; War Preparation
AGE: ca. 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; animal hair

Among the Songye and Luba peoples of central Africa, the Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe Society commands high status, because its members are considered to have magical powers to invoke spirits. Among the masks used by the Kifwebe Society is the Kilume (male) mask here. Kilume masks are danced with a suit of mesh and a long mantle of raffia fiber. The masqueraders were used primarily to enforce social norms, to intimidate enemies in war, to attend male circumcisions, and at bukishi initiations teaching social and religious principles. Today, they exist primarily to preserve tradition and provide entertainment.

The dance of the male Kifwebe masquerader is erratic and energetic, reflecting the intimidating policing role played by this part of the Society.

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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: ASID027
MAKER: Ganuh Nugroho AdiNarimo (Surakarta, 1966-)
CEREMONY: Wayang Wong Dance Drama
AGE: 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: pule wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; polyester strap; steel staples

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. The mask would be worn by the masquerader biting down on the strap to hold the mask in place. This leaves the character mute throughout the performance.

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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: EURU001
MAKER: Unknown maker from Voronezh
CEREMONY: Novy God (New Year’s Holiday)
AGE: ca. 1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: thin cardboard
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.

This specific mask was made in the Dynamo Workshop of the Voronezh Sports Complex, which produced them between 1951 and 1991. The masks were probably designed by the artist S.M. Nyuhin, but little is known about the specific craftswomen who made them. They were originally shaped from mashed paper on gypsum molds; dried with electric heaters; cut and pierced; primed with oil, chalk and glue; and painted and lacquered. In the 1970s, aluminum molds replaced the gypsum and cardboard substituted for paper maché, but the skilled hand painting continued.

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Javanese Cakil

TITLE: Javanese Cakil
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Java
ETHNICITY: Javanese
DESCRIPTION: Cakil Mask
CATALOG ID: ASID032
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Topeng Dance Drama; Wayang Wong Dance Drama
AGE: 1930s
MAIN MATERIAL: pule wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

This mask represents a character known as Cakil, a crab-like demon with a gigantic jaw, who represents persistent greed. It is used in both the Topeng and Wayang Wong. 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.

The Wayang Wong dance drama retell 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. In the end, Rama retrieves her with the help of the wily monkey god, Hanuman.

The mask would be worn by the masquerader biting down on the leather strap to hold the mask in place. This leaves the character mute throughout the performance.

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Igbo Agbogho Mmuo

TITLE: Igbo Agbogho Mmuo
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Igbo
DESCRIPTION: Agbogho Mmuo (Maiden Spirit) Mask
CATALOG ID: AFNG004
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Agriculture; Funeral; Secret Society; Spirit Invocation
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; pigment

The Igbo are a numerous people inhabiting southern Nigeria. They have a rich masking tradition based on their traditional religion, Odinani, the circumcision ritual of adulthood, and initiation into secret societies. The Agbogho Mmuo, or Maiden Spirit, is a helmet mask intended to represent the spirit of a beautiful female ancestor and is danced during the dry season as part of agricultural rituals, as well as during funerals of prominent members of the masking secret society.

The mask is worn by men only, who imitate the movements of a graceful female to music played on traditional drums and other instruments. Singers also participate and pay tribute to real and past girls. The whiteness of the mask does not idealize light skin, but instead indicates the spirit nature of the girl represented. The elaborate hair style with comb decorations is intended to enhance the beauty of the mask.

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Negrito

TITLE: Negrito Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Michoacán
ETHNICITY: Purépecha
DESCRIPTION: Negrito (Little Black Man) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX058
MAKER: Victoriano Salgado Morales (Uruapán, 1920-2012)
CEREMONY: Danza de los Negritos
AGE: early 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: maque lacquer; plaster; dyed sheep skin and wool; ribbons; metal hardware; plastic beads; brass bells; mirrors

The Danza de los Negritos centers around a religious ceremony honoring the baby Jesus around Christmas time, and is performed solely by men from special cofradiás, or fraternal orders. The “negritos” (sometimes simply negros, or blacks) themselves originally represented the black slaves imported into Michoacán to work the sugar cane and indigo plantations. They were feared by the indigenous Purépecha people, possibly because of their association between blackness and power or godhood, and historically the dance represented the negritos as abusive and lecherous.In this, the dancers resembled the moors from the Dance of the Christians and Moors performed in other parts of Mexico.

In the modern dance, strongly influenced by Christian indoctrinization, the negrito continues to honor the white master (now represented by the baby Jesus, however) and punish the indigenous people (the spectators), but the meaning has changed from rebellion to Catholic conformism. The image of the negrito has morphed into a community leader, worshiping Jesus and punishing sinners.

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