Masks

The sacred dramas, based upon the Jatakas or former births of Buddha, and performed by professional lay actors and actresses, are very popular. The buffoons who wear blue masks adorned with cowls are usually the so-called hunters, but sometimes, as in the old Hindu dramas, are Brahmins.

China.

Masks usually made of papier mache are employed in the Chinese theatre, but for the greater part the actors make up their faces like masks with cosmetics and paint. These painted masks are of different colours, used singly or in combination, and have a traditional significance. For example, a corrupt ruler is given a white mask, a just man a red, and a violent and brutal man, a black mask. There are no special theatre buildings, but almost every temple has a stage erected in a convenient part devoted to the performance of theatrical representations. In addi tion to the secular and historical dramas, which are extremely popular, there are plays and other performances in which masks are used all more or less bound up with Buddhism. Masks are also used in various ways by children in traditional observances.

In Tibet, China, Japan and other adjacent countries to which Buddhism extended, the so-called lion dance is popular. In Tibet the head and shoulders of the lion are formed by a framework which one man manipulates from the interior while another man occupies its hind quarters. A harlequin mummer with a variety of rough and tumble antics introduces the beast, which enters with leaps and bounds and goes through a variety of manoeuvres. In China, where this sport is common, a ball in imitation of an immense pearl is carried by some one who runs in front of the beast or darts across its path. The lion is believed to be extremely fond of playing with the ball. A similar amusement is practised in China and Japan by itinerant players who carry a red mask of a lion on a pole, their bodies being concealed by a dependent red cloth. The mask and cloth are manipulated violently as if the animal was in pursuit, to the taps of a small drum. The lower jaw of this mask is movable and is made to emit a loud continuous clacking by means of a string. The same mechanism is used in the goat mask found in the Tyrol and among the Slays and again in the giant masks of the Zuni Indian, shalako.

Ceylon and

Ceylon masks are used in plays, masquerades and devil-dancing. Those representing various dis eases are employed by dancers in exorcising the spirits who are believed to cause them. The masks used in these performances are

of carved wood, painted in brilliant colours, yellow and red pre ponderating. Some, like that of the great demon of fatal diseases, all of which are attributed to the derangement of the three humours, wind, phlegm and bile, are composite and of enormous size. The demon of cattle, who causes cattle sickness, is repre sented with horns and tusks and is clothed in a garment of leaves. The Gara is a demon who possesses newly-built houses, and before a house can be fully occupied a ceremony is generally performed. The masks are not intended to drive the devils away but rather to attach them to the spot.

In Java wooden masks, tupeng, are used in certain of the theatrical performances that are extremely popular. These plays, developed from the shadow puppet plays of the i8th century, are performed not only as amusements but to safeguard the people from all kinds of calamities. The stories are in part derived from ancient Sanskrit literature, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, although the Javanese are now Mohammedans. This use of masks is exceptional, for masks, being forbidden under the prohibition of images, are practically unknown in the Mohammedan East.

Melanesia.

Masks of bark and carved wood play an impor tant part among the Papuans where they are worn by members of the native secret societies. There societies such as the Quatu of New Hebrides, the Tamate of the Banks islands, the Malambala of Florida, the Dukduk of New Britain, etc., are characteristic of Melanesia and are accessible only to men.

Africa.

Carved wooden masks are used by the natives of the Congo and by the adjacent tribes on the west coast of Africa. They may be divided into three principal classes : war masks, dance masks and masks of the feticheur,—that curious personage who combines the attributes of high priest, magis trate and physician. Whatever their use, they are more or less connected directly with the medicine man and are religious rather than festal. The face or head of carved wood is usually painted and supplemented by an enormous fringe of fibre at tached at the base of the mask and hanging over the shoulders. In their expression the African carved wood masks have an artistic distinction above those of any living people.