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Kanaval Devil

TITLE: Kanaval Devil
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Caribbean
COUNTRY: Haiti
ETHNICITY: Afro-Haitian
DESCRIPTION: Se Wè Ya Wèm Diable (Devil) Mask
CATALOG #: CAHT003
MAKER: Unknown maker in Jacmel
CEREMONY: Carnival
AGE: 1989
MAIN MATERIAL: paper maché
OTHER MATERIALS: dyed polyester fabric; cow teeth; cow horns; repurposed tire rubber; foam rubber; paint; adhesive; stitching

In Haiti, the French-speaking descendants of African slaves celebrate Carnival (Kanaval) with parades and parties. Due to the extreme poverty of the great majority of Haitian people, masks and costumes are mostly handmade from recycled or easily available materials. There are stock characters that appear at most celebrations, such as Chaloska and the horned Lanse Kòds, but participants are free to invent their own costumes.  A few expert artisans create more professional masks, but even these tend to be made of inexpensive materials, such as paper maché or wire mesh. This specific mask has a menacing slogan painted on its tongue: “Se wè ya wèm,” Haitian Creole for “Watch me watching you.”

For more on Haitian Carnival, see Leah Gordon et al., Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti (London: Soul Jazz Pub., 2010).

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Toba Batak Funerary Mask

TITLE: Toba Batak Funerary Mask
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: North Sumatra
ETHNICITY: Toba Batak
DESCRIPTION: Funerary Helmet Mask
CATALOG ID: OCID040
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Hoda Hoda
FUNCTION: Entertainment; Funerary; Protection/Purification
AGE: late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: resin

The Toba Batak people make up the largest ethnic group in North Sumatra. Although most Toba people are Christians, their traditional religion is a syncretic mixture of animism, Hinduism, and Islam. Masks are used in several ways among the Toba Batak people. Historically, they were used to tell stories in dance dramas, in which unmasked characters often participated. During funerary ceremonies for rajas, a masked dance called Hoda Hoda was performed, in which a pair wore masks to confuse the spirit of the deceased, so that the spirit would depart to the next world and not linger to harm the living. The dancers carried large wooden hands to exaggerate their dance movements, and masks such as this one would include a large headdress made of cotton and plant fiber inserted into the hole on top.

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Shishi Mask

TITLE: Shishi Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
SUBREGION: Kantō
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Lion Dance (Shishi Mai) Mask (Gashira)
CATALOG ID: ASJP049
MAKER: Unknown maker in Kyōto
CEREMONY: Shishi Mai; Onidaiko (Katagami style)
AGE: 1920s
MAIN MATERIAL: cedar wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; lacquer; adhesive; cotton rope; dyed cotton cloth; washi; hardware

The shishi mask represents a mythical lion that protects and purifies the region in which it dances, driving away evil spirits, famine, and disease. The shishi mai (lion dance) is performed throughout Japan on festival days, especially during the lunar new year and Buddha’s birthday. Its appearance varies in different villages, with the lion style (like this mask) predominating, but other animals, such as a deer, cow, or mythical kirin, used in certain villages. The lion is accompanied by a retinue of drummers playing the taiko drum, as it walks through the town, dancing and bestowing blessings on locals. To drive away evil spirits, the shishi bites the head of villagers, which brings good luck and health. In some places, such as Sado Island, the shi shi dance in coordination with an oni, or divine messenger, who helps frighten away evil spirits, thereby purifying the village.

The lion dance originated in China and was brought to Japan by Chinese travelers around the early 16th century (Muromachi Period). As in China, the shishi can be danced by a sole performer or a group. In western Japan, the gigaku-kei style of shishi mai is performed by two or more dancers bundled into a long costume. In the Kantō and Tōhoku, the dance style is known as furyu-kei, and is performed by a single dancer, who beats a drum tied around his waist.

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Bujang Ganong Reog Mask

TITLE: Bujang Ganong Reog Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Java
ETHNICITY: Javanese
DESCRIPTION: Bujang Ganong
CATALOG ID: ASID041
MAKER: Imam Amirul Musthafa (Ponorogo, 1961- )
CEREMONY: Reog Dance-Drama
FUNCTION: entertainment; protection/purification
AGE: 2024
MAIN MATERIAL: Indian coral tree wood
OTHER MATERIALS: resin eyes; synthetic hair; paint; dyed cotton decorations; cotton thread; polyester cloth; hardware

The Reog (also spelled Réyog) dance-drama is a Javanese ritual involving multiple masked and costumed dancers, that serves multiple purposes in Javanese society. It originated in Ponorogo, East Java, and tells the story of the King of Ponorogo, Klono Sewandono, on his journey to Kediri to marry Princess Songgo Langit. During this journey, he is attacked by a vicious beast, the Singo Barong, a lion-like creature with a peacock on its head. The Barong is accompanied by a cavalry composed of girls wearing costumes representing horses made of bamboo, called the jathil. The Reog proceeds in three sets of dances. The first involves the bujang ganong, male dancers in (usually red) masks that represent masculine traits, who perform acrobatic dances. The second is called the Jaran Kepang and is performed by the jathil. The third dance is perfomed by all the dancers together. The warok are the main male dancers and wear the Singo Barong mask (also called a Dedak Merak), sometimes with a jathil riding atop the mask. Each dance is accompanied by an orchestra composed of gamelans, reed flutes, and gongs.

The Reog is also widely interpreted as a satire about Majapahit rule over eastern Java, with the Barong representing the Majapahit king (the lion) and queen (the peacock, which sits atop the lion to control it). The jathil were formerly played by boys in drag (gemblak), but were changed to girls to accommodate Muslim religious opposition to transvestitism and pederasty. The femininity of the jathil is thought to represent the lost strength of the Majapahit army.

Reog is a spiritual dance-drama requiring intense concentration, dexterity, and physical strength. The masks are kept on without straps, but instead are gripped in the teeth of the dancers using a bite bar. This can be especially arduous for the Barong dancers, as the Singo Barong mask may weigh as much as 50 kg. Traditionally, the bujang ganong and reog perform their dances in a trance. Tooth damage from the performance has been medically documented as common. It is usually performed on Muslim holidays, as well as at important community events such as weddings and the anniversary of the Ponorogo Regency.

For more on the Reog Ponorogo, see Margaret J. Kartomi, “Performance, Music and Meaning of Réyog Ponorogo,” 22 Indonesia 84 (1976).

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Nōgaku Semimaru Mask

TITLE: Nōgaku Semimaru Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Semimaru (blind prince) mask
MAKER: Sawazou
CATALOG ID: ASJP030
CEREMONY: Noh Drama
AGE: 1950s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; lacquer; silk cord

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 mask is used solely in the eponymous play, Semimaru and represents the blind fourth child of Emperor Engi (Emperor Daigo, 885-930). It begins when an imperial officer, Kiyotsura, who has received an order from the emperor to abandon Prince Semimaru on Mount Ōsaka, takes the prince to the mountain. Semimaru calms the lamenting Kiyotsura by approving the emperor’s wise decision as calculated to improve Semimaru’s chance of the happiness in his next life. Kiyotsura shaves the prince’s head to have him renounce the world and gives him a straw raincoat, rain hat, and cane before they part. In tears, Prince Semimaru who is now alone holds his biwa (Japanese lute) to his chest, staggering and tripping over the mountain. A court official, Hakuga no Sanmi, comes to check on Prince Semimaru to find him in the misery. Out of pity, he constructs a straw hut to keep the prince out of the rain and dew and invites the prince in.

Prince Semimaru’s older sister, Princess Sakagami, has hair growing towards the sky by nature. Although she is a princess, the strange phenomenon is considered a curse, and she goes mad and leaves Kyoto, wandering in the wilderness until she reaches Mount Ōsaka. There she stops upon hearing the sound of a lute coming from a straw hut and talks to her brother, Prince Semimaru. The brother and sister embrace and share their sorrowful stories. They then part in tears.

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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Nōgaku Kitsune Mask

TITLE: Nōgaku Kitsune Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Kitsune (Fox) Mask
MAKER: Unknown (unsigned)
CATALOG ID: ASJP029
CEREMONY: Noh Drama; Kyōgen Play
AGE: ca. 1850
MAIN MATERIAL: Japanese cypress wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; animal hair; glue; silk cord

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 mask is known as kitsune, or fox. The fox represents a shapeshifting spirit animal (kami) that can take the form of any person and has supernatural powers. The kitsune is a character in the Noh drama Sessho-seki (“The Killing Stone”), which is the tale of Tamamo-no-Mae, a kitsune who assumed the form of a beautiful maiden to seduce Emperor Konoe and steal his throne.

The kitsune also appears prominently in Tsurigitsune (“Fox Trapping”), a kyōgen play in which the Buddhist priest Hakuzōsu visits his nephew, a hunter, to lecture him on the evils of killing foxes. After Hakuzōsu leaves the hunter, the kitsune encounters a trap and cannot resist the bait. He changes back to the form of a fox, and the suspicious hunter, watching from the bushes, traps him in the snare. Though he tries to bludgeon the fox, it ultimately escapes and cries out with relief.

Kitsune are often seen guarding Shinto shrines and are considered harbingers and wealth and worldly success. In Japanese mythology, there are thought to be thirteen different kinds of kitsune: celestial, wind, spirit, darkness, fire, earth, river, ocean, forest, mountain, thunder, sound, and time. Some kinds of zenko, or helpful, and others are nogitsune, or malevolent.

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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Okame (Otafuku) Folk Mask

TITLE: Okame (Otafuku) Folk Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Okame / Otafuku Folk Mask
CATALOG ID: ASJP028
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Dengaku Dance
AGE: 2000s
MAIN MATERIAL: paper
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; wood; glue; glitter

Okame, also known as Otafuku, is a comical Japanese folk character used in the dengaku dance ceremonies accompanying rice planting, accompanied by the sasara, a wooden clapper. She supposedly represents a homely and chubby but cheerful, good-natured, and virtuous woman who brings good luck. She is sometimes identified as the goddess of mirth and is sometimes used as a symbol of fertility.

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Hyottoko Folk Mask

TITLE: Hyottoko Folk Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Japan
ETHNICITY: Japanese
DESCRIPTION: Hyottoko (Fire-Blower) Dengaku Mask
CATALOG ID: ASJP027
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Dengaku Dance
AGE: 2000s
MAIN MATERIAL: paper
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; wood; glue

Hyottoko (“fire-blower”) is a comical Japanese folk character used in the dengaku dance ceremonies accompanying rice planting, accompanied by the sasara, a wooden clapper. His distorted face represents a peasant blowing on fire with a bamboo pipe. The Hyottoko is now also used in festivals in urban Japan, such as Miyazaki Prefecture’s Hyuga Hyottoko Natsumatsuri.

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Little Kid (Dziekciorza) Kolędowania Mask

TITLE: Little Kid (Dziekciorza) Kolędowania Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Poland
ETHNICITY: Polish
DESCRIPTION: Mask representing a child
CATALOG ID: EUPO001
MAKER: Unknown maker, probably in Kamesznica
CEREMONY: Kolędowania (New Year’s Caroling)
AGE: 1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: linden wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; felt hat; leather strap; hardware; cotton decorations; elastic straps

Kolędowania is a tradition of new year’s caroling in Poland. But in parts of southern and western Poland around the Żywiec region, the tradition involves more than going from house to house singing Christmas songs.  Troupes of masked and costumed dancers appear at each house to beg for money and food in exchange for the songs. The precise cast differs from town to town, but in general it involves a stock set of characters that include horses, Jewish merchants, one or more Roma, devils, bears, and a personification of Death. It may also involve other characters from around town, such as potters, chimneysweeps, police, blacksmiths, and telephone operators. The groups can include up to 50 or more characters who dance and act out dramas for the benefit of the village. Only men and boys may participate in the dance-drama. Before 1939, only unmarried youths were allowed to participate, but since that time married men have been included as well.

In the towns of Cisiec and Milówka, for example, the leader will approach each house to ask for food or money on New Year’s Eve. This character may be unmasked to avoid frightening children in the house, and may represent a Roma. The remainder of the troupe sings and dances a drama involving a number of horses, which are characters in body costumes and huge hats representing strength and vitality. The horses are tended by a masked Roma carrying a whip. Four devils (two black and two red), two bears (a dark and a light), 10 Jewish merchants, 10 characters called macidula or sznurkosz, Death, and various characters representing occupations dance before the houses. The macidula represents an unmarried, pregnant woman, and so may carry a doll representing a child and wear rags to show her poverty. In some towns, she carries a stuffed rabbit with which she strikes villagers for good luck. In some towns, there is also a bride character, or a female Roma, an insurance salesman, or other characters. In the drama, the horses eventually become exhausted, and Death comes to carry them away. But the devils fight off Death while the Roma revives the horses, symbolizing the protection of the village and its prosperity. The entire proceeding is accompanied by a small band whose configuration varies by place, but generally includes a drum, a rattle staff with cymbals, and several Slovakian instruments known as “heligonka,” a form of diatonic button accordion.

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Salampasu Mukinka Mask

TITLE: Salampasu Mukinka Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Democratic Republic of Congo
ETHNICITY: Salampasu
DESCRIPTION: Mukinka Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD023
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: adult initiation; funeral; secret society
AGE: 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: copper sheet; wicker; kaolin clay

The Salampasu people are a small ethnic group living on the frontier between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. They are historically known as fierce warriors and successful hunters, governed by a hierarchical organization of chiefs in concert with the warrior’s society (mugongo).

Masks are used in adult initation ceremonies and can only be worn by initiated males.  Some, such as the kasangu mask, can be worn only by a male who has killed an enemy and has become a member of the Ibuku society. Such persons may also wear the mukinka mask, which, unlike other masks, is danced at funerals of important persons. The valuable copper coating signifies that the mask represents a chief.

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