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Halloween Darth Vader

TITLE: Halloween Darth Vader
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: North America
COUNTRY: United States of America
ETHNICITY: Mixed
DESCRIPTION: EFX A New Hope Limited Edition Darth Vader Mask
CATALOG ID: NAUS040
MAKER: Ralph Angus McQuarrie (Gary, Indiana, 1929-2012) & Brian Muir (England, 1952- ) (design); EFX Inc. (Los Angeles, California) (manufacture)
CEREMONY: Halloween; Entertainment
AGE: 2012 (original design, 1975)
MAIN MATERIAL: molded fiberglass
OTHER MATERIALS: aluminum; plastic; paint

Motion pictures have had a dramatic effect on culture in the United States.  Masks and costumes from motion pictures are common during Halloween celebrations, costume parties, and costume events such as Comic-Con, annual international festivals celebrating comic books and related popular culture.

This mask is a replica of the mask worn by actor David Prowse playing the sinister Sith lord Darth Vader (voiced entirely by James Earl Jones) in the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, first screened in 1977. The Darth Vader character quickly became one of the most popular villains of the era and an iconic image, inspiring toys, games, and Halloween costumes.

The original mask was sculpted by Brian Muir based on concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. Although the original mask molds appear to be lost, Rick Baker cast new molds from the screen-used helmet, and these were used to cast this wearable mask, which was then hand finished with airbrushed paint, hardware, and plastic lenses.

Click above to watch a documentary about Halloween in the United States.

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Señor de Naranja

TITLE: Señor de Naranja Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Michoacán
ETHNICITY: Purépecha
DESCRIPTION: Señor de Naranja (Lord of Naranja)
CATALOG ID: LAMX071
MAKER: Victoriano Salgado Morales (1920-2012, Uruapan)
CEREMONY: Danza del Señor de Naranja
AGE: 1980
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: plaster; tin; maque paint; brass bells; polyester ribbons; steel hardware

The Señor de Naranja (Lord of Naranja) is an historical figure of the country of Zacapu, Michoacán. “Naranja” means orange in Spanish, but the term in this context is actually a corruption of the Purépecha “Naranxan,” the name of a region where the town Naranja de Tapia is now located. The character apparently represents the historical cacique or chief of the region, Ziranzirancámaro, around 1200 CE, and the dance retells the history of the Purépecha settlement of Michoacán.

According to the legend, a tribe of Purépecha people called the “Eagles” arrived in the mountains and demanded that the Señor de Naranja bring them incense and wood to burn on the altar of their fire god, Curicaveri. Over the opposition of his people, the Señor sent the offerings, as well as his sister to wed the leader of the Eagles (Ireticatame) and bear him a son, Sicuirancha, who eventually conquered Naranxan and Cumachen. The dance commemorates these events.

This mask was made by the renowned Victoriano Salgado, who was awarded the Michoacán State Eréndira Prize for the Arts in 2012, the year of his death.

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Coyote Mask

TITLE: Coyote Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Chichicastenango
ETHNICITY: Mayan (K’ich’e)
DESCRIPTION: Black wood coyote mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT038
MAKER: Ángel Ordoñez Ventura (Chichicastenango, 1979- )
CEREMONY: Baile de los Animalitos
AGE: ca. 1910
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil-based paint

The Baile de los Animalitos (Dance of the Little Animals), also called the Baile de los Animales, 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 involves an angel, a hunter, and many different kinds of animals, including the coyote.  The dance probably predates the Spanish conquest, and involves many speeches by the animals relating to their characteristics, their role in the ecosystem, and (since colonization) their anomalous praise of the Virgin Mary. The hunter no longer hunts the animals in the modern rendition. After the speeches, they all dance to a marimba band.

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

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Noh Ko-Omote

TITLE: Noh Ko-Omote
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Ko-Omote Onna-Men Mask
CATALOG ID: ASJP023
MAKER: Unknown maker in Gunma Prefecture
CEREMONY: Noh Theater
AGE: 1950s-60s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; lacquer; silk string

The Noh theater evolved from a combination of Chinese Nuo opera, popular village entertainment known as Sarugaku, and courtly Bugaku dance to become a uniquely Japanese form of high culture. Noh, or Nōgaku, probably first emerged as a distinct form of theater in the 14th century.  A wide variety of plays developed over the ensuing three hundred or so years, with masked characters playing an important role in most.  The masks require the actors to communicate through posture, body movement, and vocal control, whose perfection requires years of intense training.  Although the masks prevent the actor from using facial expression, the most expertly carved masks can be made to express different emotions at different angles, so that he actor can change facial expression by the tilting his head.

This specific mask represents Ko-Omote, the naive young girl. Noh theater has many types of Onna-men (female masks), often with subtle variations in expression.  The Ko-Omote is probably the best known. Such roles were traditionally played by men.

For more on Noh masks, see the excellent book by Michishige Udaka and Shuichi Yamagata, The Secrets of Noh Masks (Tokyo: Kodansha International , 2010).


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

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Lokadipathi Mask

TITLE: Lokadipathi
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Sri Lanka
ETHNICITY: Sinhalese
DESCRIPTION: Lokadipathi Mask
CATALOG ID: ASLK006
MAKER: Deniyal Sinyo (carver); Podirala Amerasekara Appo (painter)
CEREMONY: Kolam Natima Dance Drama
AGE: 1940s
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 Lokadipathi, one of the 24 rakshasa (demons) who served the demon king Ravana.  Only a few of these demons are represented in Kolam theater.

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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Mende Sowei Mask

TITLE: Mende Sowei Mask
TYPE: crest mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Sierra Leone
ETHNICITY: Mende
DESCRIPTION: Sande Society Sowei Mask
CATALOG ID: AFSL002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Sande Society
AGE: ca. 1950s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A

The Mende people of Sierra Leone is unusual in having a female secret society with a masking tradition exclusively its own.  The Sande Society uses sowei (also called sowo) crest masks during girls’ initiation rituals involving adulthood and genital mutilation. The mask represents the Mende conception of an ideal woman. The sowei dancer, known as ndoli jowei, wears the mask atop the head with a full body costume of dark raffia fiber attached, so that no part of the dancer is visible. Ndoli jowei masked dancers may also appear at important social events, such as visits of foreign dignitaries and funerals of important members of society. Men carve the mask but cannot participate in the ritual.

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Grebo War Mask

TITLE: Grebo War Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Liberia
ETHNICITY: Grebo
DESCRIPTION: War Plank Mask
CATALOG ID: AFLR002
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Funeral; War Preparation
AGE: ca. 2000
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: raffia; wicker; cotton cloth; pigment; feathers; hardware; hair

The Grebo people of Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire were formerly governed by a chief-priest who lived in near total isolation. Historically, they chipped their teeth to make them appear sharper and more ferocious. In modern times, Grebo governance has become more fluid and tooth chipping is very rare.

The Grebo use several types of masks, some used for adult initiation or religious ceremonies. The most commonly seen is the war mask, used by warrior societies and formed in the shape of a plank with cylindrical eyes, numbering between two and twelve. The mask is danced in preparation for war and at the funerals of warriors.

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Lombok Raksa

TITLE: Lombok Raksa
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Lombok
ETHNICITY: Sasak
DESCRIPTION: Raksa (demon) mask
CATALOG ID: ASID038
MAKER: Unknown carver from the town of Loyok in Sikur
CEREMONY: Wayang Wong Dance Drama
FUNCTION: Celebration; Entertainment
AGE: 1960s
MAIN MATERIAL: candelnut wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The Wayang Wong dance drama of Indonesia centers around 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. In the end, Rama retrieves her with the help of the wily monkey king, Hanuman.

Although Wayang Wong is best known on the islands of Java and Bali, it has also made its way to the Sasak people of Lombok. Masks from this region exhibit characteristics of both Javanese and Balinese styles, with elements unique to the Sasak as well. The character represented by this mask is a raksa or raksha, or demon who serves Ravana.

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Kwele Antelope

TITLE: Kwele Antelope
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Democratic Republic of Congo
ETHNICITY: Kwele
DESCRIPTION: Antelope spirit mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD016
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Be’ete Society
AGE: 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay

The Kwele, also known as Kwese, people of Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo now live between the Dja and Ivindo rivers. Social control is exercised by the Be’ete Secret Society, which uses masks to adult initiation rituals, funerals, and protection of the village from malicious spirits.  The masks embody protective bush spirits, with the antelope a dominant presence among them.  Kaolin clay is nearly always used in Kwele masks, because its white color has spiritual meaning to the Kwele.

This specific mask is more naturalistic than most Kwele antelope masks. More commonly, the masks are highly abstract, flat (plank-shaped), and with slit eyes.

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Bamileke Monkey

TITLE: Bamileke Monkey
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Cameroon
ETHNICITY: Bamileke
DESCRIPTION: Monkey Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCM007
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Agriculture; Celebration; Funeral; Status
AGE: 1970s-1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: pigment

The Bamileke people of the Cameroon grasslands are closely related to their neighbors, the Babanki and Bamoun peoples, and have similar artistic styles. The Bamileke society is highly stratified by lineage, with certain royal lineages exclusively entitled to wear certain masks.  Lineage masks may represent persons, such as the kam, ngoin, or animals, and are used principally at funerals and annual harvest festivals. The kam mask is reserved for royalty and is the highest ranking mask, with ngoin, his wife, also highly ranked. Animal masks like this one are open to non-royal lineages to use, except for the exalted elephant mask.

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