Dance Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Feb 1882
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "SMALL OVAL MASK - HUMAN FACE-RED BROWS-BLACK HAIR-2 ROWS OF WOODEN TEETH-SLIT EYES. INVENTORIED 1977."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=139 , retrieved 12-28-2021; see web page for additional information: Mask, Inupiaq. This King Island mask represents a woman, her hair parted for braids. It was acquired with two male masks as a set, all probably made by the same artist and used together. Its meaning within King Island's rich heritage of dance and ceremony has not been identified. For the "Competition Dance" men wore women's clothing and masks to hide their faces, and women danced disguised as men; it seems possible that this mask was used for that purpose. This female portrait mask, purchased on King Island by Smithsonian collector Edward W. Nelson in 1882, has not yet been specifically identified by contemporary Elders. In the book King Island Tales, Frank Ellanna of King Island described some of the many songs and dances that people of this Bering Sea island traditionally performed during mid-winter, or Sauya.tuġvik [the Time of Drumming]. For the "competition dance," men wore women's clothing and masks to hide their faces, and women danced disguised as men; it seems possible that this mask was used for that purpose. Dancers wore different types of masks and special regalia for the Wolf Dance, Polar Bear Dance, and other performances. When not in use, masks and drums were hung up in the qagri [community house] . Masks were used throughout the Iñupiaq region for the Messenger Feast, whaling festivals, and other social and religious ceremonies. The King Island Singers and Dancers, Northwest Iñupiaq Dancers, and other groups carry on the traditions of Iñupiaq dance.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: King Island, Bering Strait, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 82A00003
label: USNM Number
content: E64227-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 30 cm