Mask Makers Web

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.

Category: Mask tradition

Added on: May 20, 2002 | Hits: 15855