The Indian myth that lies within the mask

The round head rises above the mask, ruffled with thin sticks that are lined with swan fluff. The Chosen One is a dancer naked to the waist, wearing a skirt of goat's wool, his knees shielded by goose skin. In his hands he holds a sistrum*. His figure inspires awe and fear. If someone unlawfully wanted to wear a magic mask, his skin would be immediately covered with ulcers. No one would dare, no one would come to a head filled with essential myths explaining the world, the origin of masks and other magical objects. Myths draw the entire local reality, draw boundaries, explain and give meaning. The mask is passed down from generation to generation, it travels with the daughter who marries. It is a privilege - a guarantee of happiness and a rich life.

In the myths of North American Indian tribes, there are different views on the origin of masks. They can come both from the sky (from above) and from within the earth (from below) - sometimes from the depths of the waters the hero of the story brings them out - he fishes them out on purpose or completely accidentally and brings a part of the chthonic world to earth. If we are tempted to analyze, we can see that the masks are therefore a representation of the ancestor-protoplasts that started the most important Indian families. They also embody the social order that prevails among the tribes. In one myth, a hero pays a visit to the spirits of a lake and is gifted with a mask, which later ensures him a prosperous and thoughtful life. The masks often have fish-like tongues - decorated with underwater patterns, themselves evoking a fish by their shape. On the mainland, on the other hand, we will meet half-human beings - water spirits that are both fish and human. Thus, the mythical significance of fish for the Indians is obvious (and let's remember that their economy was based largely on fishing) - they come from the chthonic world and have a real impact on earthly reality. Among the tribes living on the islands, masks most often just spontaneously fall from the sky without any outside interference. Always, however, the mask is the magical beginning or culmination of a change in the course of events.

The Lummi tribe calls the mask sxoaxi, in the Fraser River Valley they are referred to as swaihwé. The names and elements of Indian masks vary, but surprisingly, the overall form and their meaning are very similar across a vast area. The magic mask is worn by a dancer during the most important ceremonies - it has a huge face with teeth missing from the mouth. The head may resemble a raven with a sharp, predatory beak, and the overall form freely transforms into a human one - the masks usually have very convex, distinctive eyes. They are made of wood, leather and wool, and are decorated with painted ornaments and symbolic figures. There is also an established canon of colors - natural dyes give the masks their expression: bark and coal produced white and black, ochre, iron ore and fish eggs produced red, and minerals and forest moss produced shades of green, yellow and blue. Sxoaxi or swaihwé can be seen rarely - on a daily basis they are hidden and carefully guarded, after all, it is not a mere disguise or decoration, but part of an important myth.

Indian stories explain the origin of the masks and give them supernatural powers. For us today, they are distant tales that will probably seem illogical and lack a meaningful plot. Perhaps the cultural difference is sometimes too great to grasp the grids of meaning of a tradition that has been mangled and almost erased by the course of history. Collectors, merchants, early travelers and turbulent history have caused Indian masks to leave their rightful owners and end up in various corners of the world. Now we can see them in numerous museum display cases - while viewing them, let's remember their cultural significance, magical power and the place they occupied in Indian myths. These fascinating stories, linking the extraterrestrial world and human everyday life, still linger in these wooden faces.

The inspiration and main source of the article is Claude Lévi-Strauss' book "The Ways of the Masks."
* Sistrum - a musical instrument