TITLE: Maluku Islands Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Oceania
COUNTRY: Indonesia
SUBREGION: Maluku Islands
ETHNICITY: Melanesian
DESCRIPTION: Wood mask of unknown use, possibly for Tjakalele Dance
CATALOG ID: OCID005
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Tjakalele Dance (?)
AGE: late 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A
The Maluku (formerly Molucca) Islands are an archipelago of over one thousand islands inhabited by mixed Melanesian and Austronesian peoples. Since Indonesian independence and failed attempts to form various independent republics, they have formed two provinces of the Republic of Indonesia. Very little is known about the masked ceremonies of the Maluku Islands or of this mask in particular.
