Masks

Eastern Europe.

Masks survive among the Slav peasants of eastern Europe in connection with heathen festivals con nected with the winter solstice that have been transferred to Christmas and Easter. The carved and painted wooden masks of the peasants of the Austrian Tyrol, among which those of the so-called Judas play are conspicuous, frequently bore branching stag horns, and are reminiscent of an earlier, heathen period, as are the masks used in the May dances by the peasants in other parts of Europe. Little or no information exists concerning the use of masks in Europe of ter the decline of the classic drama until they reappear in the mediaeval mystery plays, and their use evolved through the mimes and Italian popular comedy into pantomime. The masquerade came from Italy where the domino, a loose cloak with a half mask, was introduced from Venice.

America.

Whatever may be the status of the mask in the culture of the Old World, it is surpassed in America where it was a fundamental object in the religious life of many aboriginal tribes. As such it culminated in the ancient civilization of Mex ico where it not only distinguished the personalities of the gods but supplied the foundation of the system of picture writing in which the individual characters consist for the most part of grotesque masks of different divinities. While all but a very few of the old masks have perished, they may be studied in the minutest detail from the pictures in the manuscripts and from sculpture and pottery. Sculptured stone masks with holes at the upper corners for attachment or suspension are common among Mexican antiquities, and while their use is not fully understood, actual masks of carved wood entirely encrusted with turquoise are preserved in museum collections.

The primitive culture of the Americas appears to belong to an earlier and fresher stratum than that of the oldest historic civilizations ; it exhibits processes of growth and development that are elsewhere lacking. This is especially true of the mask, for which we find a direct explanation which, while it may not apply to all masks, reveals materials and conditions out of which the thing came into being.

While the use of the mask among the American Indians was widespread, the Eskimo, the tribes of the north-west Pacific coast and the village dwellers of the south-western United States are now our chief sources of information. Idols or images of the gods are inconspicuous in the religious life of the existing Indian who himself personates his deities. He identifies himself with the divinity by painting himself, or by his costume, the essential feature of which among the Indians of the South-west is the mask. Much the same kilts, girdles and other accessories

are worn with different masks. The Eskimos believe that in early days all animated beings had a dual existence, assuming at will either human or animal form. When an animal wished to become human it raised its forearm or wing and pushed up its muzzle or beak as if it were a mask, the creature becoming instantly manlike in form and features. The manlike form thus appearing is supposed to represent the thinking part of the creature and at death becomes its shade. The masks of the Pacific coast with double faces illustrate this belief, the muzzle or beak of the animal fitting over and concealing the face of a man and being so constructed as to swing open and symbolize the transformation at a certain place in the ceremony.

The primal and dominant type of mask employed by the Indians of the south-western United States is a cylinder, closed at the top, that fits over the head and rests on the shoulders. It suggests and is comparable to the top of a carved post. An other mask, a section of the foregoing, covers only the face. These are worn alike by the Zuni, the Hopi, the Keres, Tewa and other Pueblo tribes. To-day they are made of leather, of old saddles, or of raw hide, and are humanized and adorned by a variety of adjuncts. The eyes are represented by round or square incisions or by two buckskin balls filled with deer hair and tied with deer sinew which passes through holes. The nose is commonly of buckskin rolled up and tied in place with sinew, or of a corn-cob or a corn-cob dart or a miniature dart directed at a ring which forms the mouth. The mouth is a little hole with a ring of buckskin or is indicated by a braided corn husk simu lating teeth. Not infrequently it has a projecting wooden cylinder for a bill, or the stem of a gourd cut with teeth for a snout. Ears consist of a hemispheric disc of wood perforated for earrings and attached with sinew or buckskin strings, or flowers of the colour-vision producing datura made of wool or cotton yarn of different colours, or datura flower buds of wood, on one or both sides. On others painted discs representing datura flowers with segments of different colours are substituted. Horns are at tached to some masks. Others are surmounted by wooden rain bows or rectangular tablets. A feather plume is frequently affixed at the top. Wooden arrows, lightning sticks and cloud terraces are among the other adjuncts.