TITLE: Flores Island Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Flores Island
ETHNICITY: Ngada
DESCRIPTION: Harvest ceremony mask
CATALOG ID: OCID004
MAKER: Unknown maker near Bajawa, Ngada
FUNCTION: Agriculture; Spirit Invocation
AGE: ca. 1920s-1930s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: ijuk fiber eyebrows; buffalo bone teeth
Little is known about the traditional animist beliefs of the Ngada (also known as Rokka) people of Flores Island. All that is known about this mask is that it was used in harvest ceremonies in a village near Bajawa, probably to invoke a god or spirit to ensure a fruitful harvest.
