by Mildred Boyd

     There must be few villages in Mexico that do not boast at least one citizen who is honored for his skill as a maker of masks. When the local saint´s day or carnival rolls around each year, new masks are always required. And not just the simple black domino most of us wore for Halloween either; these are meant to represent characters in whatever dance, pageant or historical reenactment is required.
     They range from very lifelike images to truly fantastic beasts. Young and old, saints and devils, heroes and villains, birds, reptiles, fish, animals, ordinary men and women are all there. Since it is usually only males who participate in the dances and rituals, female masks are almost always worn by men.
     Though the masks are modern, the custom of wearing them is deeply rooted in the past. Museums are filled with ancient ceramic masks worn in the worship of the ancient gods in dances and rituals of propitiation or for covering the faces of long-buried kings and it is quite probable that many others made of perishable materials have vanished. If today’s examples are representative, they would have been fashioned from an amazing array of materials using an equally amazing array of techniques. The only limit seems to be the mask maker’s skill and imagination. The basic creation is often embellished with fur, feathers, mirrors, bells, ribbons, flowers, animal horns or beads. Hair and beards may be fashioned from human or horse hair ixtle fiber, sheep’s wool, moss, yarn or even stranger materials.

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