Masks among Eskimo peoples

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Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy, c.1890. Yupik shaman Nushagak.jpg
Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy, c.1890.

Masks among Eskimo peoples served a variety of functions. Masks were made out of driftwood, animal skins, bones and feathers. They were often painted using bright colors. There are archeological miniature maskettes made of walrus ivory, dating from early Paleo-Eskimo and from early Dorset culture period. [2]

Contents

Despite some similarities in the cultures of the Eskimo peoples, [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] their cultural diversity [8] makes it hard to generalize how different groups, like the Inuit and Yupik used masks. The sustenance, Inuit religion, soul concepts, and even the language [9] of the different communities were often very different.

Eskimo groups comprise a huge area stretching from Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Nunatsiavut in Labrador and Nunavik in Quebec) to Greenland. The term Eskimo has fallen out of favor in Canada and Greenland, where it is considered pejorative and the term Inuit has become more common. However, Eskimo is still considered acceptable among Alaska Natives of Yupik and Iñupiat (Inuit) heritage, as well as Siberian Yupik peoples, and is preferred over Inuit as a collective reference. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Early masks

Archaeological masks have been found from early Paleo-Eskimo and from early Dorset culture period. [2] It is believed that these masks served several functions, including being in rituals representing animals in personalized form; [14] being used by shaman (medicine man or angakkuq ) in ceremonies relating to spirits (as in the case of a wooden mask from southwestern Alaska); [15] it is also suggested that they could be worn during song contest ceremonials. [16]

Associated beliefs

Ceremonial ivory masks produced by Yupik in Alaska Ivorymasks.jpg
Ceremonial ivory masks produced by Yupik in Alaska

Although beliefs about unity between human and animal did not extend to that of absolute interchangeability, [17] several Eskimo peoples had sophisticated soul concepts (including variants of soul dualism) that linked living humans, their ancestors, and their prey. [18] [19] Besides synchronous beliefs, there were also notions of unity between human and animal, and myths about an ancient time when the animal could take on human form at will. [14] [20] Traditional transformation mask s reflected this unity. [21] Ritual ceremonies could enable the community to enact these stories with the help of masks, sometimes with the masked person representing the animal.

On Inuit masks, "concentric circles...usually represent the cosmos." [22]

Yup'ik masks

The Yup'ik are Eskimos of western Alaska whose masks vary enormously but are characterised by great invention. Yup'ik masks differ in size from forehead and finger 'maskettes', to enormous constructions that dancers need external supports to perform with. [23] Many of these masks were used almost as stage props, some of which imbued the dancer with the spirit that they represented - and most were often destroyed after use. Others represented animal people, (yuit), and insects, berries, plants, ice and objects of everyday life. [23]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yupʼik masks</span>

Yup'ik masks are expressive shamanic ritual masks made by the Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik masks for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig masks for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking people of Nunivak Island. They are typically made of wood, and painted with few colors. The Yup'ik masks were carved by men or women, but mainly were carved by the men. The shamans (angalkuq) were the ones that told the carvers how to make the masks. Yup'ik masks could be small three-inch finger masks or maskettes, but also ten-kilo masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several people. These masks are used to bring the person wearing it luck and good fortune in hunts. Over the long winter darkness dances and storytelling took place in the qasgiq using these masks. They most often create masks for ceremonies but the masks are traditionally destroyed after being used. After Christian contact in the late nineteenth century, masked dancing was suppressed, and today it is not practiced as it was before in the Yup'ik villages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yupʼik dance</span> Traditional Inuit style dancing

Yup'ik dance or Yuraq, also Yuraqing is a traditional Inuit style dancing form usually performed to songs in Yup'ik, with dances choreographed for specific songs which the Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik dance for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Inuit of Chevak and Cup'ig dance for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Inuit of Nunivak Island. Yup'ik dancing is set up in a very specific and cultural format. Typically, the men are in the front, kneeling and the women stand in the back. The drummers are in the very back of the dance group. Dance is the heart of Yup’ik spiritual and social life. Traditional dancing in the qasgiq is a communal activity in Yup’ik tradition. The mask (kegginaquq) was a central element in Yup'ik ceremonial dancing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yupʼik doll</span>

Yup'ik doll is a traditional Eskimo style doll and figurine form made in the southwestern Alaska by Yup'ik people. Also known as Cup'ik doll for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Eskimos of Chevak and Cup'ig doll for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Eskimos of Nunivak Island. Typically, Yup'ik dolls are dressed in traditional Eskimo style Yup'ik clothing, intended to protect the wearer from cold weather, and are often made from traditional materials obtained through food gathering. Play dolls from the Yup'ik area were made of wood, bone, or walrus ivory and measured from one to twelve inches in height or more. Male and female dolls were often distinguished anatomically and can be told apart by the addition of ivory labrets for males and chin tattooing for females. The information about play dolls within Alaska Native cultures is sporadic. As is so often the case in early museum collections, it is difficult to distinguish dolls made for play from those made for ritual. There were always five dolls making up a family: a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, and a baby. Some human figurines were used by shamans.

Marie (Nick) Arnaq Meade is a Yup'ik professor in the humanities and also a Yup'ik tradition bearer. Meade's Yup'ik name is Arnaq which means "woman." She also works and travels with the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. Meade is also part of the Nunamta Yup'ik Dance Group. Meade has been documenting the cultural knowledge of Yup'ik elders, including the values, language and beliefs of the Yup'ik people for over twenty years. She is currently an instructor at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Shamanism is a religious practice present in various cultures and religions around the world. Shamanism takes on many different forms, which vary greatly by region and culture and are shaped by the distinct histories of its practitioners.

References

  1. ↑ Fienup-Riordan 1994: 206
  2. 1 2 Hessel & Hessel 1998: 12–13
  3. ↑ Kleivan 1985:8
  4. ↑ Rasmussen 1965:366 (ch. XXIII)
  5. ↑ Rasmussen 1965:166 (ch. XIII)
  6. ↑ Rasmussen 1965:110 (ch. VIII)
  7. ↑ Mauss 1979
  8. ↑ Kleivan 1985:26
  9. ↑ "Eskimo | Definition, History, Culture, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  10. ↑ Kaplan, Lawrence. "Inuit or Eskimo: Which name to use?". www.uaf.edu. Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks . Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  11. ↑ "Eskimo: Websters Dictionary" . Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  12. ↑ Hersher, Rebecca (April 24, 2016). "Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo'". NPR.
  13. 1 2 Oosten 1997: 90–91
  14. ↑ Burch & Forman 1988: 90–91
  15. ↑ Burch & Forman 1988: 30–31
  16. ↑ Oosten 1997: 99
  17. ↑ Oosten 1997: 86
  18. ↑ Vitebsky 1996:14
  19. ↑ Barüske 1969: 7, 9
  20. ↑ Thomas 2008 Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine : +4 (= third page after the opening page of the article)
  21. ↑ Chandonnet, Ann (2013). Alaska's Native Peoples. Anchorage: Arctic Circle Enterprises. p. 29. ISBN   1-933837-14-4.
  22. 1 2 The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks; Ann Feinup-Riordan; University of Washington Press, Seattle 1996. ISBN   0-295-97501-6

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