Halloween mask

HALLOWEEN MASK is an artefact normally worn on the face, typically for protection, concealment, performance, or amusement. HALLOWEEN MASKs have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes. They are usually, but not always, worn on the face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere in relation to the wearer's own head.

The word HALLOWEEN MASK came via French masque and either Italian maschera or Spanish máscara. Possible ancestors are Latin (not classical) mascus, masca = "ghost", Hebrew masecha= "HALLOWEEN MASK" and Arabic HALLOWEEN MASKharah = "jester", "man in masquerade".

The 5000-year-old Sumerian HALLOWEEN MASK of Warka is believed to be the oldest surviving HALLOWEEN MASK. Looted from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, it was recovered in 2003.[1]
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* 1 Ritual and theatre
o 1.1 HALLOWEEN MASKs in Contemporary Theatre
o 1.2 Ritual HALLOWEEN MASKs
o 1.3 Ritual and Theatrical HALLOWEEN MASKs around the World
+ 1.3.1 Africa
+ 1.3.2 Oceania
+ 1.3.3 North America
+ 1.3.4 South and Central America
+ 1.3.5 Asia
# 1.3.5.1 India/Sri Lanka/Indo-China/Indonesia
# 1.3.5.2 Japan
+ 1.3.6 Europe
* 2 Utilitarian HALLOWEEN MASKs
* 3 HALLOWEEN MASKs to prevent recognition
* 4 Protective
o 4.1 Types of protective HALLOWEEN MASKs
* 5 Punitive
* 6 Fashion
* 7 Other types
* 8 HALLOWEEN MASKs in popular culture
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 Notes
* 12 External links

[edit] Ritual and theatre
HALLOWEEN MASKed performers as Punch and Judy by Horse and Bamboo Theatre
HALLOWEEN MASKed performers as Punch and Judy by Horse and Bamboo Theatre

Throughout the world HALLOWEEN MASKs are used for their expressive power as a feature of HALLOWEEN MASKed performance. They are a familiar and vivid element in many folk and traditional pageants, ceremonies, rituals and festivals. Many of these are of an ancient origin. The HALLOWEEN MASK is often a part of costume that adorns the whole body and embodies a tradition important to a particular society of people.

It is often assumed that HALLOWEEN MASKs are exotic artifacts limited to Third World cultures, whereas HALLOWEEN MASKs are used almost universally and maintain their power and mystery both for their wearers and their audience, retaining an important place in the religious and social life of the community. The continued popularity of wearing HALLOWEEN MASKs at carnival, and for children at parties and for festivals such as Halloween are reminders of the enduring power of pretence and play.

The HALLOWEEN MASK is also used in theatrical performance. In many cultural traditions the HALLOWEEN MASKed performer is a central concept and is highly valued. In the western tradition it is sometimes considered a stylistic device which can be traced back to the Greeks and Romans. The HALLOWEEN MASKed characters of the Commedia dell'Arte included the ancestors of the modern clown. In contemporary western theatre the HALLOWEEN MASK is often used alongside puppetry to create a theatre which is essentially visual rather than verbal, and many of its practicioners have been visual artists.

[edit] HALLOWEEN MASKs in Contemporary Theatre

HALLOWEEN MASKs, as well as puppets, were often incorporated into the theatre work of European avant-garde artists from the turn of the nineteenth century. Alfred Jarry, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Schlemmer and other artists of the Bauhaus School, as well as surrealists and Dadaists, experimented with theatre forms and HALLOWEEN MASKs in their work.
Puppets found in the Bread & Puppet Museum in Glover, Vermont
Puppets found in the Bread & Puppet Museum in Glover, Vermont

The modern effort to restore the HALLOWEEN MASK to the stage derives from Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) who in A Note on HALLOWEEN MASKs (1910) proposed the virtues of using HALLOWEEN MASKs over the naturalism of the actor. [2] Craig was highly influential, and his ideas were taken up by Brecht, Cocteau, Genet - and later by Arden, Grotowski and Brook and others who "attempted to restore a ritualistic if not actually religious significance to theatre". [3].

The first real sustained and developed use of HALLOWEEN MASKs in contemporary theatre can be traced back to the work of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, founded in 1959, and to Peter Schumann and his Bread and Puppet Theatre, which was established in New York in the early 1960’s. Schumann, born in Silesia in 1934, combined aspects of European festival HALLOWEEN MASKs with a highly distinctive American sensibility, and his strongly humanitarian and anti-war polemic has continued to exert an influence on the use of HALLOWEEN MASKs in theatre, especially on street-theatre.[4] Other US and Canadian companies, inspired by Bread and Puppet, developed including In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and HALLOWEEN MASK Theater of Minneapolis; Arm-of-the Sea Theatre from New York State; Snake Theater from California; and Shadowland Theatre of Toronto. These companies, and others, have a strong social agenda, and combine HALLOWEEN MASKs, music and puppetry to create a visual theatrical form.

In Europe Schumann’s influence combined with the early avant-garde artists to encourage groups like Moving Picture Mime Show and Welfare State (both in the UK). The practice of performing with HALLOWEEN MASKs is also studied by many performers, often derived from the Commedia dell'Arte traditions. The work of Jacques Lecoq has been particularly important in the revival of interest in this discipline.

HALLOWEEN MASK-based theatre has been taken to high levels of narrative sophistication by Horse and Bamboo Theatre (founded in 1978), and Trestle Theatre Company (1981), although Trestle Theatre has now abandoned its commitment to HALLOWEEN MASK theatre.

[edit] Ritual HALLOWEEN MASKs
Golden HALLOWEEN MASKs excavated in Kalmakareh, Lorestan, Iran. First half of first Millennium BC. National Museum of Iran.
Golden HALLOWEEN MASKs excavated in Kalmakareh, Lorestan, Iran. First half of first Millennium BC. National Museum of Iran.

Ritual HALLOWEEN MASKs occur throughout the world, and although they tend to share many characteristics, highly distinctive forms have developed. The function of the HALLOWEEN MASKs may be magical or religious; they may appear in rites of passage or as a make-up for a form of theatre. Equally HALLOWEEN MASKs may disguise a penitent or preside over important ceremonies; they may help mediate with spirits, or offer a protective role to the society who utilise their powers.[5]

[edit] Ritual and Theatrical HALLOWEEN MASKs around the World

[edit] Africa

There are an enormous variety of HALLOWEEN MASKs used in Africa. In West Africa, HALLOWEEN MASKs are used in masquerades that form part of religious ceremonies enacted to communicate with spirits and ancestors. Examples are the masquerades of the Yoruba, Igbo and Edo cultures, including Egungun Masquerades and Northern Edo Masquerades. The HALLOWEEN MASKs are usually carved with an extraordinary skill and variety by artists who will usually have received their training as an apprentice to a master carver - frequently it is a tradition that has been passed down within a family through many generations. Such an artist holds a respected position in tribal society because of the work that he/she creates, embodying not only complex craft techniques but also spiritual/social and symbolic knowledge.[6] African HALLOWEEN MASKs are also used in the Mas or Masquerade of the Caribbean Carnival.
Fang HALLOWEEN MASK used for the ngil ceremony, an inquisitorial search for sorcerers. Wood, Gabon, 19th century.
Fang HALLOWEEN MASK used for the ngil ceremony, an inquisitorial search for sorcerers. Wood, Gabon, 19th century.

Many African HALLOWEEN MASKs represent animals. Some African tribes believe that the animal HALLOWEEN MASKs can help them communicate with the spirits who live in forests or open savannas. People of Burkina Faso known as the Bwa and Nuna call to the spirit to stop destruction. The Dogon of Mali have complex religions that also have animal HALLOWEEN MASKs. Their beliefs are in three main cults - the Awa, cult of the dead, Bini, cult of communication with spirits and Lebe, cult of earth and nature. These three main cults nevertheless use seventy-eight different types of HALLOWEEN MASKs. Most of the ceremonies of the Dogon culture are secret, although the antelope dance is shown to non-Dogons. The antelope HALLOWEEN MASKs are rough rectangular boxes with several horns coming out of the top. The Dogons are expert agriculturists and the antelope symbolizes a hard working farmer.[citation needed]

Another culture that has a very rich agricultural tradition is the Bamana people of Mali. The antelope (called Chiwara) is believed to have taught man the secrets of agriculture. Although the Dogons and Bamana people both believe the antelope symbolises agriculture, they interpret elements the HALLOWEEN MASKs differently. To the Bamana people, swords represent the sprouting of grain.

HALLOWEEN MASKs may also indicate a culture’s ideal of feminine beauty. The HALLOWEEN MASKs of Punu of Gabon have highly arched eyebrows, almost almond-shaped eyes and a narrow chin. The raised strip running from both sides of the nose to the ears represent jewellery. Dark black hairstyle, tops the HALLOWEEN MASK off. The whiteness of the face represent the whiteness and beauty of the spirit world. Only men wear the HALLOWEEN MASKs and perform the dances with high stilts despite it being a “female” HALLOWEEN MASKs. One of the most beautiful representations of female beauty is the Idia’s HALLOWEEN MASK of Benin. It is believed to have been commissioned by a king of Benin in memory of his mother. To honor his dead mother, the king wore the HALLOWEEN MASK on his hip during special ceremonies.[7]


The Senoufo people of the Ivory Coast represent tranquility by making HALLOWEEN MASKs with eyes half-shut and lines drawn near the mouth. The Temne of Sierra Leone use HALLOWEEN MASKs with small eyes and mouths to represent humility and humbleness. They represent wisdom by making bulging forehead. Other HALLOWEEN MASKs that have exaggerated long faces and broad foreheads symbolize the soberness of one’s duty that comes with power. War HALLOWEEN MASKs are also popular. The Grebo of the Ivory Coast carve HALLOWEEN MASKs with round eyes to represent alertness and anger, with the straight nose to represent unwillingness to retreat.[citation needed]

Today, the qualities of African art are beginning to be more understood and appreciated. However most African HALLOWEEN MASKs are now being produced for the tourist trade. Although they often show skilled craftsmanship and they will nearly always lack the spiritual character of the traditional tribal HALLOWEEN MASKs.

[edit] Oceania

The variety and beauty of the HALLOWEEN MASKs of Melanesia are almost as highly developed as in Africa. It is a culture where ancestor worship is dominant and religious ceremonies are devoted to ancestors. Inevitably many of the HALLOWEEN MASK types relate to use in these ceremonies and are linked with the activities of secret societies. The HALLOWEEN MASK is regarded as an instrument of revelation, giving form to the sacred. This is often accomplished by linking the HALLOWEEN MASK to an ancestral presence, and thus bringing the past into the present.

As a culture of scattered islands and peninsulars Melanesian HALLOWEEN MASK forms have developed in a highly diversified fashion, with a great deal of variety in their construction and aesthetic.[8]

[edit] North America

Arctic Coastal groups have tended towards rudimentary religious practice but a highly evolved and rich mythology, especially concerning hunting. In some areas annual shamanic ceremonies involved HALLOWEEN MASKed dances and these strongly abstracted HALLOWEEN MASKs are arguably the most striking artifacts produced in this region.

Pacific Northwest Coastal indigenous groups were generally highly skilled woodworkers. The carving of HALLOWEEN MASKs are an important feature of that craft, along with many other features that often combined the utilitarian with the symbolic, such as shields, canoes, poles and houses.

Woodland tribes, especially in the North-East and around the Great Lakes, cross-fertilized culturally with one another. The Iroquois made spectacular wooden ‘false face’ HALLOWEEN MASKs, used in healing ceremonies and carved from living trees. These HALLOWEEN MASKs appear in a great variety of shapes, depending on their precise function.

Pueblo craftsmen produced impressive work for HALLOWEEN MASKed religious ritual, especially the Hopi and Zuni. The kachinas, god/spirits, frequently take the form of highly distinctive and elaborate HALLOWEEN MASKs that are used in ritual dances. These are usually made of leather with appendages of fur, feathers or leaves. Some cover the face, some the whole head and are often highly abstracted forms. Navajo HALLOWEEN MASKs appear to be inspired by the Pueblo prototypes. [9]

[edit] South and Central America
Aztec HALLOWEEN MASK of Xiuhtecuhtli, c. 1500, of Mixtec-Aztec provenance
Aztec HALLOWEEN MASK of Xiuhtecuhtli, c. 1500, of Mixtec-Aztec provenance

Distinctive styles of HALLOWEEN MASKs began to emerge in pre-Hispanic America about 1200BC, although there is evidence of far older HALLOWEEN MASK forms. In the Andes HALLOWEEN MASKs were used to dress the faces of the dead. These were originally made of fabric but later burial HALLOWEEN MASKs were sometimes made of beaten copper or gold, and occasionally of clay.

For the Aztecs human skulls were prized as war trophies and skull HALLOWEEN MASKs were not uncommon. HALLOWEEN MASKs were also used as part of court entertainments, possibly combining political with religious significance.

In post-colonial Latin America pre-Columbian traditions merged with Christian rituals, and syncretic masquerades and ceremonies, such as All Souls/Day of the Dead developed, despite efforts of the Church to stamp out the indigenous traditions. HALLOWEEN MASKs remain an important feature of popular carnivals and religious dances, such as The Dance of the Moors and Christians. Mexico, in particular, retains a great deal of creativity in the production of HALLOWEEN MASKs, encouraged by collectors. Wrestling matches, where it is common for the participants to wear HALLOWEEN MASKs, are very popular and many of the wrestlers can be considered folk heroes. [10]

[edit] Asia

[edit] India/Sri Lanka/Indo-China/Indonesia

HALLOWEEN MASKed characters, usually divinities, are a central feature of Indian dramatic forms, many based on depicting the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Countries that have had strong Indian cultural influences – Cambodia, Burma, Java, Thailand, Vietnam – have developed the Indian forms, combined with local myths, and developed their own characteristic styles.

The HALLOWEEN MASKs are usually highly exaggerated and formalised, and share an aesthetic with the carved images of monstrous heads that dominate the facades of Hindu and Buddhist temples. These faces or Kirtimukhas, 'Visages of Glory', are intended to ward off evil and are associated with the animal world as well as the divine. During ceremonies these visages are given active form in the great HALLOWEEN MASK dramas of the South and South-eastern Asian region. [11]

[edit] Japan

Japanese HALLOWEEN MASKs are part of a very old and highly sophisticated and stylized theatrical tradition. Although the roots are in prehistoric myths and cults they have developed into refined art forms. The oldest HALLOWEEN MASKs are the gigaku. The form no longer exists, and was probably a type of dance presentation. The bugaku developed from this – a complex dance-drama that used HALLOWEEN MASKs with moveable jaws.

The nō or noh HALLOWEEN MASK evolved from the gigaku and bugaku and is the supreme achievement of Japanese HALLOWEEN MASK-making. Nō HALLOWEEN MASKs represent gods, men, women, madmen and devils, and each category has many sub-divisions. Nō plays are acted entirely by men. The HALLOWEEN MASKs are worn throughout very long performances and are consequently very light. Kyōgen are short farces with their own HALLOWEEN MASKs, and accompany the tragic nō plays. Kabuki is the theatre of modern Japan, rooted in the older forms, but HALLOWEEN MASKs are replaced by painted faces.