Mask Makers Web

Dragon dances are the most spectacular dances performed at New year. Chinese consider dragons to be friendly and helpful creatures associated with strength, good fortune, wisdom and longevity. These creatures inhabit every body of water as well as rain and are linked to the Pearl of Knowledge. The longer the dragon, the more luck it will bring to the community. As a result, communities strive to have very long dragons dancing during the New Year. Some dragons are so long that they require twenty or thirty people to hold up the tail!

Added on: Oct 17, 2002 | Hits: 4246

The dragon dance was started by the Chinese who had shown great belief and respect towards the dragon. It is an important item of the Chinese Culture and tradition. Dragon Dance has spread throughout China and to the whole world. It becomes a special performance of arts in the Chinese physical activities. It symbolises the bringing of good luck and prosperity in the year to come for all the human beings on earth. According to ancient history, during the period of Chun Chiu, the learning of Chinese Martial Arts was very popular and in the spare time, dragon dance was also being taught to students to provide more encouragement.

Added on: Oct 17, 2002 | Hits: 4271

Originally part of a large helmet, this detached face mask was part of the armor worn by soldiers in the Roman cavalry. The face may represent Aphrodite, Artemis, or even an effeminate Apollo, since the generalized features make any precise identification difficult........

Added on: Oct 07, 2002 | Hits: 4219

The site offers handmade Chinese traditional Nuo Masks and Beijng Opera masks. Watch video of Nuo dance, one of the oldest rituals dances.

Added on: Nov 14, 2006 | Hits: 5316

Julius Caesar seems to have been the first to report meeting Giants in Britain; See De Bello Gallico - Liber VI, C XVI J. A. Thwaites translates his words thus: "They (the British) enclose their victims in wickers of osier and burn them at the tops of giant men." Who were the giant men in question? well, there is some doubt, they might have been great hill-figures like the Cerne Giant or the Long Man of Wilmington, they may alternatively have been some sort of sacrificial green man, or they might have been... Oh well, speculation is useless, but that Albion was indeed the land of Giants, is confirmed. 'Dancing', or 'Pageant' Giants were recorded in Europe by the 14th century. One of the first known in Britain; Christopher the Salisbury Giant; still survives. Once the Giant of the Tailors' Guild, he stands in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, his exact age is unknown, but there exists a repair bill dated 1570.

Added on: Nov 08, 2002 | Hits: 4270

Emnearbejde fra Vokslev friskole Gr?nlandske masker kendes hovedsageligt fra ?stgr?nland i et omfang som g?r, at der her er tale om en egentlig maskekultur. Der findes kun f? eksempler p? masker fra Vestgr?nland og her er det kunstneriske udtryk et helt andet.

Added on: Jul 07, 2002 | Hits: 4173

Efter kristendommens indf?relse er maskens form?l reduceret til blot at skr?mme b?rn, n?r de tr?ngte til at blive sat lidt p? plads og senere endnu som rene turistobjekter. Hvor de gamle masker kunne udtrykke begge k?n i samme maske, fremstilles masker nu ofte som par.

Added on: Jul 07, 2002 | Hits: 4424

These are marble and stone depictions of Greek masks. The originals were made from leather.An actor contemplates his mask. Note the color and appearance of a wig. Depiction of life backstage

Added on: Jun 10, 2002 | Hits: 4328

Many foreigners in Greece seem to think they invented the drunken, riotous celebration, forgetting that Greece is the home of Dionysus, the god of wine. A trip to more "Greek" areas shows that his legacy is in no danger of dying out. At country fairs and patron saint festivals, piety is mixed with pleasure in rituals that descend pre-Christian days, when gods were honored with feasting, dancing and orgies (even today, Greek villages typically experience mini baby booms nine months after a big feast day!). These festivals are great occasions to find villages with their tourist traps disarmed, ready to welcome visitors into the infectious celebrations. Wine and beans are doled out, bandstands are set up in front of churches and the old ways come alive through music, dancing and other rituals. Many of these festivals take place at the very ruins where the original rituals began; what better way to experience the culture and the architecture than at an out of control festival!

Added on: Aug 28, 2002 | Hits: 4446

from ANCIENT SPIRAL As part of most May Day 'Sweeps Festivals' in various areas within the United Kingdom, at least one of the Morris dancers will dress in a wicker framework totally covered in leaves. Called Jack in the Green, this figure appears several times throughout the day as part of the celebrations in the British town of Rochester.

Added on: May 21, 2002 | Hits: 4396

Click on "Fester" to see Photo." Hellig Tre Kongersl?b " is a tradition from the times when Denmark was still a catholic country. It has survived on a small island called Agers? . Once a year, in the winter masked people walks from house to house begging for candy and cookies. You are supposed to guess who is behind the mask. The masked people must make an effort not to be recognized...

Added on: Nov 26, 2001 | Hits: 4362

IN DANISH.Fin informativ side om fastelavn og karnevalstraditioner. Mange links til traditioner rundt om i verden

Added on: Jan 27, 2002 | Hits: 4363

The large size of the theater (in its final form it seated 20,000 people) and the distance of even the nearest spectators from the performers (more than 10 meters) dictated a non-naturalistic approach to acting. All gestures had to be large and definite so as to 'read' from the back rows. Facial expression would have been invisible to all but the closest members of the audience; the masks worn by the actors looked more 'natural' than bare faces in the TDA. The masks of tragedy were of an ordinary, face-fitting size, with wigs attach and open mouths to allow clear speech. Contrary to some later theories, there were no 'megaphones' in the masks, and their decoration and expression was quite subtle, as vase paintings from the 5th and 4th centuries demonstrate.

Added on: Jun 13, 2002 | Hits: 4403

We offer one of the largest selections of Masquerade Masks and Venetian Masks in every colour and design you can think of. Masks with or without feathers, with or without sticks, all beautifully adorned with paints, acrylics, glitter, gems and crystals. Made in Venice by Venetian Artisans

Added on: Sep 17, 2012 | Hits: 10014

Kasan Okwangdae was designated as Important Intangible Cultral Property No. 73 in 1980. This consists of 6 acts unlike other Okwangdae. Kasan masks is made of strawboard, Hanji(i.e. Korean traditional paper), gourds, and bamboo baskets. They consist of 23 kinds and 28 pieces of masks, and some of them are used in two or more roles.

Added on: Nov 17, 2002 | Hits: 4330

Of major importance in Kwakiutl myth, Komokwa was King of the Undersea World, Master and Protecter of the Seals, who were a symbol of wealth. His name means "Wealthy One", and he ruled from a great, rich house under the water. His house contained great wealth in blankets, coppers, and other treasures. Many human supplicants of legendary history tried to reach this kingdom and those ancestral heroes who achieved their goal became wealthy and powerful, returning to their home village with magical boxes full of treasure

Added on: May 31, 2002 | Hits: 4398

Description of each characters role. Masks for sale AsianMask.com website is dedicated to introducing cultural heritages through images of masks

Added on: Apr 23, 2001 | Hits: 4478

Korean masks not only play their respective roles in various mask dance dramas but also reflect the expressions and bone structures of Korean faces

Added on: Feb 03, 2001 | Hits: 8176

By Michael Hice Sacred clowns, commonly known as koshares paiyakyamu in Hopi. While most visitors observe them as buffoons, relegating them to mere foolishness is a tragic misjudgment of the sacred clown?s importance in Native American societies. Nowhere is the role of the jokester more developed than in the sacred clown among the Pueblo cultures of New Mexico. Though aspects, including the name, vary from pueblo to pueblo, surprising similarities exist among these sacred personas of the pueblos along the northern Rio Grande River and Laguna and Zuni Pueblos to the west.

Added on: May 20, 2002 | Hits: 4519

I represent some artists in my city and buy directly (normally) from folk artist and Native Brazilians (or their associations) in other parts of the country.

Added on: Jan 08, 2008 | Hits: 6571

le g?ant s?est lev? pour annoncer sa premi?re sortie officielle : le dimanche 2 septembre 1956 ? 15 heures.

Added on: Nov 18, 2002 | Hits: 4229

She was created in 1987 when we who were to become the Dorchester Giants Group, invited two giants to star at a fun-day at Salisbury Fields in Dorchester. We invited Gogmagog from London and Christopher II from Salisbury. Clearly we needed a hostess; Lilbet. As it turned out the fun day was very nearly a disaster, gales blew all day, lots of equipment was damaged, Gogmagog did not parade and Christopher II fell over. Lilbet just survived, returning from her first outing in some distress, but only one piece.

Added on: Nov 08, 2002 | Hits: 4207

Kolede and Vasilica carnivals ward off evil spirits and promote fertility.

Added on: Apr 19, 2003 | Hits: 5368

Thimi is also well known for paper masks and clay masks. From tiny to gigantic masks, which are embodiment of the gods, demons and animals, are made in Thimi. In masked dance, when the dancer wears mask, he falls into a trance. Mask is a source of charm and strength in masked dance. Beside in dances, masks are also decorated in house and temple. These days, a mask serves as a excellent piece of souvenir.

Added on: Feb 14, 2003 | Hits: 4824

Very nice informative site with great photos of these spectacular masktraditions. Mardi Gras in rural Southwestern Louisiana draws on traditions that are centuries old. Revelers go from house to house begging to obtain the ingredients for a communal meal. They wear costumes that conceal their identity and that also parody the roles of those in authority. They escape from ordinary life partly through the alcohol many consume in their festive quest, but even more through the roles they portray. As they act out their parts in a wild, gaudy pageant, they are escaping from routine existence, freed from the restraints that confine them every other day in the year. These traditions, folklorists say, go back at least as far as medieval times. The human impulse that underlies Mardi Gras has not diminished today, even if some of the traditions lapsed for decades and even if one factor in their revival by subsequent generations was a desire to enhance tourism. Anyone who has seen the procession of Mardi Gras riders brightly costumed in myriad colors advancing across the drab late-winter countryside is also likely to be swept up in the timeless moment: in rural Acadiana, Mardi Gras lives as much today as it did in centuries past.

Added on: Feb 11, 2003 | Hits: 4358