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Baule Klolo Mask

TITLE: Baule Klolo Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
ETHNICITY: Baule
DESCRIPTION: Klolo (Elephant) Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCI014
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Purification; Spirit Invocation
AGE: ca. 1970s-1980s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: kaolin clay

Before major festivals, the Baule people sometimes dance masks representing potent animal spirits to purify the village. This mask represents the revered elephant and is known as klolo, or sometimes lébé.  The abstraction of this specific elephant mask is striking and greater than usual among its type.  It is likely that this mask is used in much the same way as the zi mask of the southern (Dje) Guro people, to which the klolo bears a strong resemblance. The zi mask represents a powerful spirit tamed by the village that is used to purify the village of harmful spirits, especially witchcraft.

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Negro Mask

TITLE: Negro Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Michoacán
ETHNICITY: Purépecha
DESCRIPTION: Negro (Elegant European) Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX052
MAKER: María Emma Zavala Espino (Sevina)
CEREMONY: Danza de la Negrada; Pastorela
AGE: 2014
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: gesso; paint; plastic eyelashes; montera (cardboard, velveteen, plastic beads, plastic flowers and leaves)

The Danza de la Negrada is performed in modern Michoacán among the Tarascan Indians (known as the Purépecha people) during the winter season to celebrate the Christmas holiday. The negros, as you see, are not necessarily “black men.” The masqueraders are actually known in the Purépecha language as turías or turíachas, who are spirits that control the air. “Black” refers not merely to color, but alludes to the idea of elegance and sophistication, and ultimately refers to anyone who is not an indigenous person.  It can therefore refer to European peoples as well, as this mask obviously does.

The best description of the dance is given by Janet Brody Esser in her excellent book, Behind the Mask in Mexico, with relation to a dance in Cherán, Michoacán:

“For the dance, the Blackmen arrange themselves in two files, leaving a clear area in between from four to twelve feet, depending on available space. The leaders, known as la letra and el segundo, recite stylized couplets recounting the birth of Jesus. . . . The leaders pace between the two files of dancers while reciting the verses, which are in Spanish. They delivered in a somewhat stilted manner with regularly recurring emphases and stylized gestures.  At intervals each Blackman joins his neighbor in the file and performs a slow waltz or sprightly polka. . . . The Blackmen begin dancing at the home of the carguero [the person charged with carrying the statue of the Holy Infant] at about nine p.m. on Christmas Eve and continue until after Midnight Mass, which they attend. They accompany the image of the Holy Child as it is carried through the streets to the church. . . . Beginning at ten or eleven on the morning of Christmas Day, the day after Christmas, and on January 1, Blackmen dance at homes of past and present cargueros. They also dance at the municipal building in honor of civic officials. Throughout the dancing, with the exception of Midnight Mass, they are accompanied by girls from ten to fourteen years of age wearing elaborately decorated sombreros. The dancers are given gifts of fruit and sugarcane by each host, which the townspeople explain are foods appropriate for children in a feast that is for the Holy Child.”

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Chokwe Mwana Pwo

TITLE: Chokwe Mwana Pwo
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Congo, Dem. Rep. of
ETHNICITY: Chokwe
DESCRIPTION: Mwana Pwo (Young Woman) Mask
CATALOG ID: AFCD009
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Entertainment; Spirit Invocation
AGE: ca. 1980s-1990s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: string

The populous Chokwe people of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia are known as some of the most skilled wood carvers in Africa. They resisted colonization far longer than most peoples of the region, despite repeated incursions by the Portuguese and other Europeans.

The Chokwe use masks in many contexts. The mwana pwo (young woman) mask invokes the spirit of a female ancestor in her most beautiful youth. The dark skin, decorative forehead and cheek scars, high forehead, narrow nose, and filed teeth represent the idealized Chokwe female. The mwana pwo is mostly danced for purposes for entertainment at festivals, but it is thought to increase the fertility of the women who attend.

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Austrian Perchtenmaske

TITLE: Austrian Perchtenmaske
TYPE: helmet mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Austria
ETHNICITY: Tyrolean
DESCRIPTION: Perchtenmaske (Krampus Mask)
CATALOG ID: EUAT002
MAKER: Josef “Sepp” Seidl (Sankt Veit im Pongau, 1975- )
CEREMONY: Perchtenlauf
AGE: 2008
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: Steinbock horns; padded leather; mesh; paint; glass eyes; horse hair; plastic and foam rubber helmet

Perchtenlauf is a Tyrolean winter festival equivalent to the old Norse Yule.  In many parts of Austria, southern Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy, in mid-December the town organizes a parade of Perchten, or demons who represent evil spirits (known in Germany as Krampus).  The Perchten wear frightening horned masks with sharp teeth and long, lolling tongues, typically in a suit of goat skin with loud cowbells attached to their belt.  Their function is to accompanying St. Nicholas, who reward good children with treats and presents, while the Perchten punish bad children by beating them with birch switches or throwing them into wicker baskets on their backs to carry down to Hell for punishment.

This mask uses the traditional Steinbock horns and was worn in Krampuslaufs in Tyrolean Austria from 2009 until 2015.

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Yoruba Gelede Mask

TITLE: Yoruba Gelede Mask
TYPE: crest mask
GENERAL REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Nigeria
ETHNICITY: Yoruba
DESCRIPTION: Gelede Mask with Family Sculptures
CATALOG ID: AFNG012
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Gelede Society
AGE: early 2000s
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

The highly populous Yoruba people inhabit much of Nigeria and parts of Benin. The Gelede Society originates in cultural myths about Yemoja, the mother of all living things, who could not conceive children until she learned a dance with a wooden image on her head. The Gelede is named after Yemoja’s chubby daughter, and the dance therefore has a close connection with fertility rites. Nonetheless, the Gelede ceremony performs diverse functions in Yoruba society, including to pray for rain, purify the village of disease, to enlist spiritual help in wartime, and to honor the dead.

For more on the Gelede ceremony, see Babatunde Lawal’s incomparable monograph, The Gelede Spectacle (University of Washington Press, 1996).

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Huichol Tsikwaki

TITLE: Huichol Tsikwaki
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Mexico
SUBREGION: Jalisco
ETHNICITY: Huichol (Wixáritari)
DESCRIPTION: Tsikwaki Mask
CATALOG ID: LAMX041
MAKER: Santos de la Cruz Carrillo (San Andres Cohamiata)
CEREMONY: Mawarirra; Beyak
AGE: 2014
MAIN MATERIAL: pine wood
OTHER MATERIALS: ash pigment; human hair; glue

The Huichol people (or Wixáritari, as they call themselves) are indigenous peoples of the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and small parts of Zacatecas and Durango. They are a spiritual people with an ancient, animistic religion centered around the sun god and closely connected to the ritual use of peyote. In recent years, missionaries have altered traditional beliefs with syncretic Catholicism.

Among their holidays are Mawarirra, or Holiday of Bull Sacrifice, and Beyak, a Huichol term for Holy Week. In both celebrations, tsikwaki, or clowns, may appear to ridicule the mestizo neighbors of the Huichols, frightening the children and causing mischief for everyone’s entertainment

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Fasnet Gretle

TITLE: Fasnet Gretle
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Germany
SUBREGION: Swabia
ETHNICITY: Swabian (German)
DESCRIPTION: Gretle Narro
MAKER: Unknown maker in Todtmoos
CATALOG ID: EUDE007
CEREMONY: Fasnet (Carnival)
AGE: 1973
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; lacquer; elastic straps

In many parts of Swabia and Bavaria, Carnival (usually called Fasnet or Fastnet in this region of Germany) is celebrated with parades of masked clowns (Narren).  The clown parade (Narrensprung) is organized by guilds (Zarrenzunft), all members of which wear similar costumes and masks.  Each town has its own guilds, with some overlap in styles of Narro.  Their purpose is to usher in the spring with joy and laughter.

The small town of Todtmoos in Baden-Württemberg has a Carnival tradition of parading clowns called Gretle, a comical woman in a red cap and gown and carrying a red umbrella. The Gretles are organized by the Lebküchler Guild.

Regrettably, the best texts on Carnival in Bavaria and Swabia are still available in German only: Heinz Wintermantel’s Hoorig, hoorig isch die Katz (Würzburg: Konrad Theiss, 1978) and Dick Eckert’s Die Werdenfelser Fasnacht und ihre Larven (Volk Verlag München, 2015).

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Nonchi Akka Mask

TITLE: Nonchi Akka Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Asia
COUNTRY: Sri Lanka
ETHNICITY: Sinhalese
DESCRIPTION: Nonchi Akka (crazy old lady) mask
CATALOG ID: ASLK001
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Kolam Natima
AGE: ca. 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 the comical servant Nonchi Akka, often used in traditional kolam to amuse the audience with punning dialogue.

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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St. George Mask

TITLE: St. George Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Rabinal
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: San Jorge (St. George) mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT043
MAKER: Unknown maker in Rabinal
CEREMONY: Baile de San Jorge
AGE: early 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: hardwood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

This mask was used in the Baile de San Jorge, also known as the Baile de la Serpiente or Baile de la Sierpe, retelling the mythical battle of St. George against a dragon. The story orginates in 9th century Europe (with much older antecedents) and tells of a dragon that extorted tribute from villagers in Cappadocia (translocated in later stories to Libya). When the villagers ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving the dragon a human tribute once a year by lot. When a princess was chosen as the next offering. St. George rescued the princess and killed the dragon.

The dance has special meaning for the cultural conquest of the Mayan Empire by the Spanish Empire, because the “dragon” vanquished by St. George would have represented the Mayan feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. By depicting a Catholic saint killing a dragon, the Spanish missionaries tried to convert a Mayan ritual into a vehicle for Catholic proselytization. This mask has been repainted several times due to wear to the paint.

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

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Diablesa Mask

TITLE: Diablesa Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Bolivia
SUBREGION: Oruro
ETHNICITY: Quechua and Aymara
DESCRIPTION: Diablesa Half Mask
CATALOG ID: LABO006
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Carnival (La Diablada)
AGE: ca. late 1970s
MAIN MATERIAL: tin sheet
OTHER MATERIALS: brass chain; synthetic fibers; paint

The Diablada (Dance of the Devils) is an annual ceremony in several towns in the Altiplano region of Bolivia, Peru, and northern Chile, usually incorporated into Carnival.  The dance includes both male and female devils dancing in a group led by the Archangel Michael.

This mask represents a diablesa (female devil), made from recycled tin, spray painted and hand finished. The costume of the diablesa in Oruro is usually elaborately decorated and somewhat revealing, although the character may be danced by a man or a woman.

For more on Bolivian masquerade, see Peter McFarren ed., Masks of the Bolivian Andes (La Paz: Editorial Quipus/Banco Mercantil SA, 1993).

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