Although separated by thousands of miles, the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest, and the native peoples of New Ireland (Papua New Guinea), have produced a strikingly similar cultural tradition. The masks that these peoples wear in various sacred rituals have roots in spiritual concepts about ancestors and the spirit world.
Please find 2 images online to refer to directly while writing.
Please organize your essay according to the following outline:
Please describe the formal similarities/differences of the two mask types. Discuss the following: Color, design, materials, size, durability, visual principles, construction techniques. (7 sentences minimum)
Please describe the spiritual/symbolic significance of each mask type. (4 sentences each culture)
Please describe the primary differences in the mask ritual with regards to this spiritual element. (6 sentences min)
Why/how do you think that such similar art forms developed despite the geographic separation ? (3 sentences min)
How is the custom of wearing masks or costumes during Halloween similar and different to the Kwakiutl and Tatanua traditions ? (4 sentences min)
In what way does contemporary culture remember our ancestors or deceased relatives ? How does it differ from the traditions of Totemistic or Archaic culture ? (4 sentences min)
Please type and staple your answers. Due the last day of class.
Tatanua Masks
This type of mask was made in north and central New Ireland. It is known as tatanua, after the dance in which it is used. Though the masks are superficially similar in appearance, there are many variations reflecting the wide range of associations and meanings which they have.
The volumetric grandeur of tatanua helmet masks, used in New Ireland funeral rites, marks the degree of prestige the living can earn for the deceased by making and dancing with masks. A textured assemblage of plant substances, cloth, and other materials, the ornamental crest of the mask may signify an idealized male, a portrait of an ancestor, or the vertical hairstyles historically worn during mourning periods. A rainbow of red, yellow, and white pigments signifies male manipulations of wartime sorcery, and the villagewide male cooperation needed to produce these masks. Designed to be viewed in profile and decorated with asymmetrical patterns, helmet masks make a thrilling display during the climactic days of mortuary rites.
The upper part consists of a cane framework held together with string and covered with barkcloth, or in later examples, European textiles. It is decorated to represent the hairstyle worn by young men as a mark of bereavement, in which the hair was partially shaved and coated with lime. Tatanua masks are decorated differently on each side of the crest, using feathers, wool, shells, short wooden sticks or seeds. One side is often coated with lime. The crest is of yellow or reddish brown fibre. The face, normally carved from lime wood (Alstonia), is decorated with black, white and reddish brown pigment in an asymmetric design. Sometimes, as in this example, blue pigment is included - a European product (Reckitt's Blue) used to enhance the whiteness of washing. The eyes are set with painted snail shell (Turbo petholatus) opercula, the ear lobes are elongated and pierced, and the straight mouth is usually open, showing teeth.
The tatanua mask is worn by men in ceremonies to honour the dead. In 1907 Richard Parkinson published a description of a ceremony that he witnessed on a visit to New Ireland. The masked dancers performed, accompanied by drumming, wearing garlands of leaves and a leaf garment covering the lower body. Brenda Clay describes her observations of a performance by tatanua dancers in 1979. Men prepared the masks and the performance away from women. The masks are preserved between performances, to be rented out by one of the few remaining skilled carvers.
On the northern part of New Ireland, rites for the dead include a funeral, a period of mourning, and a subsequent memorial festival, known as the malagan [mah-lah-GAHN]. Special buildings must be constructed for the memorial festival, food must be stockpiled to feed the guests, and a number of types of carvings must be created. Because this memorial festival requires such a great deal of preparation and expense, the ceremony may occur several months or even years after the death, or deaths, of family members. The ceremony commemorates the deceased, helps their souls to move from the world of the living to the world of the dead, and enhances the prestige of the family. This mask (tatanua) was once part of an elaborate malagan ceremony.
The term tatanua [tah-TAH-noo-ah] refers both to a helmet mask like this one and to the dance during which the mask is worn. In order to enhance the drama and visual interest of the ritual performance, the two sides of the mask are usually decorated differently. A line of masked male dancers, moving in unison, turns first one side, and then the other, to the audience. The dancers remain silent; music for the tatanua dance is provided by a male chorus.
Performing the ceremony correctly is very important. Once the dancer puts on the mask, he must remain absolutely silent because making noise can bring death, either to him or to someone related to him. If the ceremony is correctly performed, the community is assured that ancestral spirits have approved, that the men of the community will continue to be vigorous and successful, and that the disorder of death has been overcome.
Kwakiutl Masks
The Kwakiutl people come from the Northwest Coast region of North America. This area is one of the world's richest natural environments. It consists of a narrow strip of dense forests less than 150 miles wide, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, islands, and ocean inlets. It stretches along the Pacific Ocean from the Alaskan Panhandle to northern California.
The use of transformation masks is rooted in ancient Kwakiutl traditions. According to Kwakiutl creation stories, there was once a time when birds, fish, animals and humans differed only in skin covering and had the ability to transform themselves at will. All living beings were unified and animals could take on human form, just as humans could become animals, birds, fish, and mythical creatures. According to Kwakiutl belief, when dancers are wearing these masks, they are transformed into the spirits represented on the mask.
At the beginning of the dance, this mask would be closed, showing the image of a totem animal such as a raven, that is represented on the outside of the mask. Raven is a central character in Northwest Coast stories. He is believed to be the creator of the physical world and the bringer of light. Raven has supernatural powers, and is also a "trickster" who gets what he wants by playing mischievous tricks on others, changing his shape at will.
Other masks were made in the form of a by a two-headed serpent. The serpent is called Sisuitl (SEE-shoe) and is associated with the protection of warriors. Sisuitl is often represented with a human head between two serpent heads. Together the images on the mask refer to the transformations of human to raven, raven to human, human to Sisuitl, and Sisuitl to human.
Raven and Sisuitl also are personally significant to Hunt. Raven is the special animal and main crest of his father's clan. Sisuitl is the special animal and main crest of his mother's clan. Worn at family dances, a mask like this one represents Hunt's family history by showing his ancestry.
The bold designs and forms used on this mask are distinctive of the Northwest Coast style of decoration. The painted images on this mask use abstract designs to represent animal and human images. The artist created a complex design using two basic shapes--the ovoid and the U-form.
Hunt uses traditional Kwakiutl techniques when carving and painting masks. This mask is made from red cedar, a soft wood favored by Kwakiutl artists for its clear and even grain. Hunt used traditional hand tools, andadheres to traditional colors: black, red-brown, and green. Before commercial paints were available, Kwakiutl artists used natural earth pigments, such as red ochre, charcoal, and blue-green clay. Hunt, however, prefers to use acrylic paints because they dry more quickly.
The masks of the Kwakiutl, were woven into and dramatically displayed in the rich ceremonial like of these Canadian Northwest Coast people. An abundance of food and of material for carving (red and yellow cedar) make an elaborate social and ceremonial structure possible, and masks were used for virtually every occasion. The Kwakiutl borrowed, adapted, and elaborated many themes into complex series of dances, ceremonies, and theatrical performances. Masks were a very important part of these activities since they gave life to various mythological, elemental, bird and animal figures which the people claimed as their ancestors from the the early days. These supernatural beings had given privileges and special powers to a family, often in the form of a family crest, song, or dance. The family would then portray particular mythologycal figures as part of their heritage.
Most of the masks demonstrated a masterful use of line in their smooth concave and convex curves, with sharp, rigid lines used for effect or emphasis on a feature. These rigid curves usually delineated nostrils, eyes and lips through deeply cut carving and/or the use of contrasting color, adding to the form of the mask. Most of the lines had the tendency to run parallel and taper to a terminal point at each end creating contrast in shape between the geometric and organic lines. The Kwakiutl especially demonstrated strong, clear carving, and painting was used to enhance, emphasize or embellish the basic form of the mask. The traditional Kwakiutl choice of colors for paint were dark red, black, white, and green.
In the Kwakiutl calendar, the summer or Bakoostime was the non-ceremonial part of the year. The winter months, or Tsetseka, was the climax of the year; the ceremonial or supernatural season when elaborate theatrical preformances and ceremonies were staged. The Tsetseka was preceeded by the Klasila; a four day period of song, dance, and ceremony when virtually all types of masks were displayed. Potlaches were another occasion where masks were vital for enacting family dances and dramas accompanied by song.
ANCESTOR WORSHIP
Ancestor worship or ancestor veneration is a practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, take an interest in the affairs of the world, and/or possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. All cultures attach ritual significance to the passing of loved ones, but this is not equivalent to ancestor veneration. The goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors' continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living and sometimes to ask for special favors or assistance. The social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values like filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. While far from universal, ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.
For most of the cultures, ancestor practices are not the same as the worship of the gods. When a person worships a god at a local temple, it is to ask for some favor that can be granted by the powerful spirit. Generally speaking, however, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors but to do one's filial duty. Some people believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, but that the expression of filial piety is what is important. Whether or not the ancestor receives what is offered is not the issue.
Therefore, for people unfamiliar with how "ancestor worship" is actually practiced and thought of, the use of the translation "worship" can be a cause of misunderstanding and is a misnomer in many ways. In English, the word "worship" usually refers to the reverent love and devotion accorded a deity or divine being. However, in other cultures, this act of "worship" does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather the act is a way to respect, honor and look after ancestors in their afterlives as well as possibly seek their guidance for their living descendants. In this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the grave of his parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them while also asking their deceased ancestors to continue to look after them. However this would not be considered as "worshipping" them.
Attitudes toward ancestor worship vary among primitive societies. In Polynesian societies where social rank depends on the nearness on the descent from the gods and their successors the ancestors, the attitude is one of reverence and expectation of help and guidance, but it involves little worship. Malaysian family rites were addressed to diseased kindred who were thought to be always close by and always concerned that the traditional way of life should remain the same.
TOTEMISM
The nature of totemism
Totemism is a complex of varied ideas and ways of behavior based on a worldview drawn from nature. There are ideological, mystical, emotional, reverential, and genealogical relationships of social groups or specific persons with animals or natural objects, the so-called totems.
It is necessary to differentiate between group and individual totemism. These forms share some basic characteristics, but they occur with different emphases and in different specific forms. For instance, people generally view the totem as a companion, relative, protector, progenitor, or helper, ascribe to it superhuman powers and abilities, and offer it some combination of respect, veneration, awe, and fear. Most cultures use special names and emblems to refer to the totem, and those it sponsors engage in partial identification with the totem or symbolic assimilation to it. There is usually a prohibition or taboo against killing, eating, or touching the totem.
Although totems are often the focus of ritual behavior, it is generally agreed that totemism is not a religion. Totemism can certainly include religious elements in varying degrees, just as it can appear conjoined with magic. Totemism is frequently mixed with different kinds of other beliefs, such as ancestor worship, ideas of the soul, or animism. Such mixtures have historically made the understanding of particular totemistic forms difficult.
The term derives from the language and practice of the Ojibway tribe of Native Americans, but the Ojibways' own form of totemism was not typical of the use of the term as adopted by anthropologists. A totemic tribe consists of a number of totem groups, each closely related to a totem, which may be an animal or an inanimate object. That totem is specific for that particular group, thus while every member of the tribe has a characteristic totem, it will differ from those of other totem groups within the same tribes in the same area. Plants are used as totems in some parts of the world, and other totems are sometimes only a token part of an animal (i.e., a buffalo tongue instead of a buffalo).
A totem implies some kinship between the animal or object and the members of the group, sometimes a belief in descent from an animal totem. Masks and images may reinforce this association. Members of a particular totemic group respect the animal or object used as totem, and place a taboo on its being destroyed by members of that group, although their taboo does not apply to other members of the tribe.
STUDY GUIDE TEST 3 World Art de Beaufort
Exam 3 Chapter 12
Works:
(12-2) Auuenau, Australia
(12-4) Asmat bisj poles, Melanesia
(12-6) hevehe mask ritual, Melanesia
(12-7) Abelam yam mask, Melanesia
(12-8) Tatanua mask, Melanesia
(12-11) Men’s ceremonial house, Micronesia
(12-12) Dilukai, Palau
(12-13) moai, Easter Island, Polynesia
(12-15) staff god (Tangaroa?), Polynesia
(12-19) Kuka’ilimoku, Hawaii, Ploynesia
read the following selected passages in Gardner:
225-240 (the whole chapter)
Australia and Melanesia
The Dreamings
Bark painting
New Guinea
Asmat
Bisj poles
Iatmul
Men’s house
Elema
Hevehe
Abelam
Yam cultivation
New Ireland
Tatanua mask
Micronesia
Belau
Dilukai
Polynesia
Easter Island
Moai
Tonga
Barkcloth
Rarotonga
Tatto in Polynesia
Hawaii
Kuka’ilimoku
