Masks are one of the few things on the earth that connect all of humanity throughout time. We have created ritual masks since our very beginnings in order to disguise, protect, or entertain. Masks hide our identities, and allow us to become something we’re not. Masks were used as part of an ancestor cult, and that shamans or tribal chiefs wore the masks during a ritual masquerade honoring the deceased. They were masks to represent spirits, not living people. To better understand why ancient people made such elaborate sacred objects, we must adopt a different world view and consider “animism.” Imagine for a moment a reality in which every material object and phenomena has an unseen life force; where material and spiritual realms are simply different parts of “one thing.” In that world, free of pre-scientific reasoning, our forebears projected concepts of soul, spirit, and sentience onto fern and fauna, light and shadows, thunder, wind, rain and sunshine.
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