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Tibetan Shaman Mask

TITLE: Tibetan Shaman Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: China
SUBREGION: Tibet
ETHNICITY: Tibetan
DESCRIPTION: Shaman mask of three-toothed spirit
CATALOG ID: ASCN006
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Divination; Healing; Purification; Spirit Invocation
AGE: Unknown
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: pigment

Shamanic masks arise from animistic religious beliefs rather than Hindu or Buddhist influences.  The shamanic influence in Himalayan societies probably arrived from Mongolian nomadic invaders.  The aspiring shaman must depart the community and live in isolation to commune with nature spirits. If the aspirant succeeds, he or she returns to the village with supernatural powers to invoke ancestor and nature spirits that can be either malevolent or protective and turn them to the good of the community.  This gives the shaman healing and divination powers that are used in major life events, such as births, illness, marriage, or death.  Masks are worn during these ceremonies to help the shaman mediate between the material and spiritual worlds.

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Yaure Lo Mask

TITLE: Yaure Lo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
ETHNICITY: Yaure
DESCRIPTION: Lo mask with drum player figure
CATALOG ID: AFCI011
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Je Ceremony
AGE: ca. 2005-10
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay; pigment

The Yaure people of Côte d’Ivoire are avid and skilled wood carvers. They have two main types of masks, the yu spirit and the lo spirit, and both are used in the Je Ceremony at funerals.  The yu masqueraders dance first to convert the dangerous yu spirit from a threat to the village into its protector. Lo masks like this one are danced last and help release the spirit of the dead for its journey to the next world. Unlike the brightly painted yu masks, lo masks are left dark.

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Busójárás Mask

TITLE: Busójárás Mask
TYPE: face mask with hood
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Hungary
SUBREGION: Mohács
ETHNICITY: Šokci
DESCRIPTION: Busó hooded mask
CATALOG ID: EUHU002
MAKER: György Prókai (Mohács, 197?- )
CEREMONY: Busójárás (Farsang)
AGE: 2016
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: ram horns; sheep’s leather and wool; goat hair; paint; hardware

Busójárás is the Hungarian festival held annually in Mohács to celebrate the end of winter. Although the event has a pre-Christian origin as a ritual to frighten away the winter, it has been adapted to coincide with Christian ideology and timed to end with Carnival (Farsang). Masqueraders parade in hooded devil masks of the kind shown here, wearing goat-skin suits and carrying staves or playing traditional folk music.

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Negrito Mask

TITLE: Negrito Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Oaxaca
ETHNICITY: Mixtec
DESCRIPTION: Negrito (Little Black Man) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX081
MAKER: Unknown maker in Pinotepa Nacional
CEREMONY: Danza de los Tejorones
AGE: 1960s-1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil-based paint

The Danza de los Tejorones is a group dance drama performed in various towns in Oaxaca at Carnival and a few other major holidays. All dancers wear masks and elaborate costumes, and many different characters are represented, including animals, Maria Candelaria (the female Tejorón), the Negritos (little blacks), devils, Viejos (old men), and Feos (uglies). This mask probably came from the small town of Pinotepa Nacional.

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Conquista Malinche

TITLE: Malinche Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Guerrero
ETHNICITY: Nahua
DESCRIPTION: Malinche Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX019
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Danza de la Conquista
AGE: 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: brass earrings; oil paint

The Danza de la Conquista (Dance of the Conquest) is a ceremony performed in many parts of Mexico, as well as Central and South America. It has two stories, one European and one indigenous. The European relates to the reconquest of Spain from the Islamic Moors by the Spanish monarchy. The indigenous relates to the conquest of the Americas by the Spaniards. This mask is from the second kind, and represents Malinche (properly, Malinalli), a noble Aztec maiden sold into slavery by her mother to the Mayans, then resold to the conquistador Hernán Cortés along with other girls. When he discovered Malinche spoke Nahuatl as well as Mayan, he used her as an interpreter in making the alliances with local peoples that ultimately led to the subjugation of all of Mexico. She and Cortés eventually became lovers, and she bore a son for him, but when Cortés’ wife arrived in Mexico, he married her off to another Spaniard.

The indigenous view of Malinche is mixed. Some view her as a heroine who helped turn Mexico to Catholicism, while others view her as a betrayer.  Either way, she plays an important role in the dance retelling the conquest of Mexico.

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Correfoc Diable

TITLE: Correfoc Diable
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Spain
SUBREGION: Barcelona, Catalonia
ETHNICITY: Catalan
DESCRIPTION: Diable (Devil) Mask
CATALOG ID: EUES007
MAKER: Augusto Duch (Barcelona)
CEREMONY: Correfoc (Festes de Mercè)
AGE: 2012
MAIN MATERIAL: paper maché
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; ribbons

Correfoc (“fire run”) is a Catholic ritual parade performed during the Festes de Mercè (Festival of Our Lady of Mercy) in Barcelona every September. Correfoc, one among the many events of the Mercè, is traditionally celebrated by posting a large sculpture representing the gates of Hell at the end of a major street after sunset, through which the Diable (Devil) enters shooting sparks from his pitchfork, along with an army of lesser devils doing the same. The flying sparks create a spectacle that is entrancing, but slightly perilous to the nearby crowd. Accompanying the devil army are fiberglass floats of hellish monsters with spark-throwers of their own. The event is undoubtedly calculated to instill a fear of Hell in the spectators.

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Torito Mask

TITLE: Torito Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Chichicastenango
ETHNICITY: Mayan (K’ich’e)
DESCRIPTION: Torito (Little Bull) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT044
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Baile del Torito
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil-based paint

The Baile del Torito (Dance of the Little Bull), also called the Danza del Torito, is an annual ceremony in several cities of central and southern Guatemala, usually during a holiday in honor of the town’s patron saint. The dance is accompanied by music from a marimba band.

The dance dates back to the 17th century. It tells the story of a cattle ranch in which the caporal or mayordomo (foreman) prohibits the vaqueros (cowboys) to interact with a bull like this one. The cowboys get the foreman drunk and perform bullfights. Eventually, a bull kills the foreman and the dance ends.

The dance frequently begins before sunrise and lasts for up to 12 hours. It may be performed for many days, sometimes over a week. Depending on the size of the town, there may be only one or several bulls and caporales, and up to 50 vaqueros. In some towns, such as Chichicastenango, there is both a white caporal and a black one. The costume of the vaquero is brightly colored and elaborate, with a hat sporting thick clusters of dyed ostrich feathers. In some towns, the vaquero carries a cape and maraca (rattle). The players of each character are chosen through Mayan rituals and are blessed by an Ai-lj (Mayan priest) before the dance.

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

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Lion Mask for Deer Dance

TITLE: Lion Mask for Deer Dance
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Panajachel
ETHNICITY: Mayan (Kaqchikel)
DESCRIPTION: Lion Mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT018
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Baile del Venado (Dance of the Deer)
AGE: 1940s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Baile del Venado, also called the Danza del Venado, is an annual ceremony in several cities of central and southern Guatemala, usually during a holiday in honor of the town’s patron saint. Frequently it takes place over a week or more.  The dance dates back to the pre-colonization and undoubtedly originates in Mayan rituals of respect for nature and prayer for a good hunt.  In its modern incarnation, the Baile del Venado typically involves several masked characters, including a steward or mayordomo (in Kaqchikel, cachucha), Margarita (his wife), and el Moro (the Moor, who is actually Caucasian in this region and has a quetzal bird on his forehead).  With them are several animals, depending on the village, and they may include a mono (monkey), mico (small monkey), león (lion), tigre (tiger), tigrillo (little tiger), jaguar, perro (dog), a guacamaya roja (Scarlet Macaw), and sometimes others.  In some places, the mono and mico are the same character.  The number of each animal character depends on the size of the village and the number of participants.

While originally this dance simulated a hunt, in modern times the animals dance and the mayordomo and Margarita feed them. The moro enters last, with a quetzal on his head as punishment from the gods for having worn sacred quetzal feathers.  The moro does not hunt the animals, but rather acts as their guardian and caretaker.

This mask was made in the 1940s and danced extensively in Panajachel by Evaristo Rosales. It may come from a moreria (mask and costume maker and renter) in Solalá or Chichicastenango.

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

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Gille de Binche

TITLE: Gille de Binche
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Belgium
SUBREGION: Binche
ETHNICITY: Walloon
DESCRIPTION: Gille de Binche mask
CATALOG ID: EUBE001
MAKER: Jean-Luc Pourbaix (Binche, 1947-2023) & Christophe Pourbaix (Binche, 1966-2018)
CEREMONY: Carnival
AGE: 2013
MAIN MATERIAL: cloth
OTHER MATERIALS: wax; paint; elastic strap

In Binche, Belgium, an unusual Carnival tradition emerged in approximately the 14th century, featuring (among others) masqueraders known as Gille. Gille is an elaborately dressed bourgeois with a hunched back. Most modern Gilles wear a mask, held to the head with elastic straps and a white cloth, and sporting a distinctive blond “Napoleon III” mustache with green glasses, suggesting a scholar.  The mask is thought to date to the 1860s, and it was formerly made in Germany. After the Second World War, the mask was manufactured in France using a hat press over a sculpted mold, until Jean-Luc Pourbaix began making them locally in Binche in 1976.

The costume is a suit of grey cloth, elaborately embroidered with insignias and designs in black, red, and yellow, and with a heavily padded back. The masqueraders also wear a white cloth cowl with a lace or tasseled fringe, a belt of small bells, and wooden clogs with lace spats. Crowds of Gilles parade in large groups to drum beats, carrying sticks to drive away evil spirits. Later, they appear in hats with giant ostrich plumes, carrying baskets of oranges for throwing to (or at) the parade audience as a token of good luck.

In the past, similar masks and costumes were worn by Carnival celebrants in other towns of Wallonia, with slight differences in appearance. In Nivelles, for example, the mask worn by the Société de l’Argayon had a more elaborate beard and no glasses, but was otherwise similar. It is no longer widely worn outside of Binche.

Link to a video by Guy de Angelis documenting the entire process of making the Gille mask (in French).

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Djimini Do Society Mask

TITLE: Djimini Do Society Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
ETHNICITY: Senufo (Djimini)
DESCRIPTION: Triple-Faced Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCI004
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Celebration; Funeral
AGE: ca. 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: n/a

The Djimini people are a subgroup of the much larger Senufo people and reside primarily in Côte d’Ivoire, with some also living in Burkina Faso and Mali. The Do Society dances masks of various kinds, frequently employing animal elements, at the funerals of important members of the village and on major Islamic holidays.

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