A DANCE MASK "HUDOQ"

Description:

Indonesia, Borneo / Kalimantan, East, Kajan or Bahau-Dayak, early 20th cent.
H. 62 cm, B. 62 cm, T. ca. 32 cm
Wood, pigments. Outstanding old dance mask from Borneo. Masks of this type, called hudo or hudoq, are typical of the traditional Dayak cultures of Borneo. They are used at the gawaii (festivals) of the Dayak, which take place every year in September and October as an agricultural festival. This mask, carved from light wood, depicts a forest dämon as a hostile warrior with ear plugs. The ears are plugged in with wooden dowels. The eyes and mouth are carved out of the wooden body and the nose is attached to the front. The eyes are designed as spirals - an element that indicates immense magical powers. Both white and blue pigments can be seen in the colour design. The mouth and eye rims are coloured with red pigments. Masks are held on various occasions, with one party representing the evil spirits (forest, wilderness, storms) and the other the good spirits such as rain and growth spirits. These "fright masks" usually represent forest and vegetation spirits, which were worn at rural fertility festivals or attached to the village pillar. According to traditional belief, hudoq ("faces") mainly represent thirteen well-known pests that destroy the harvest, including rats, lions and crows, for each of which there are masks. The masked dancers enter the villages as personified spirits to protect the harvest through the magical dance. During the festival, masks first appear to represent the villains or enemies. The dance reaches its climax with the appearance of two aso (dragon) and hornbill hudoq, the guardian spirits of the villages, who hunt the pests as warriors. During the festival, the manang, shamans, call upon the gods of Apulagan, the Otherworld, to ensure a rich harvest and good fortune.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s
Masks of this type, called hudo or hudoq are typical of the traditional Dayak cultures of Borneo. They are used at the gawaii (harvest festivals) of the Dayak. However, Hudoq masks are also worn at numerous other performances, festivals and ceremonies, and their use varies from region to region. In West Borneo, they are also worn at wedding ceremonies and circumcisions. Basically, their purpose is always to chase away the ominous spirits. Among the Kajan and Kenyah (to whom this mask belongs), they are mainly associated with rice festivals; in South Borneo, the area of the Ngadju-Dayak, they are also worn at burial ceremonies. These masks were always worn by male dancers. In addition, banana leaves are cut into strips and made into cloaks that emphasise the identity of the dancer. The Dayak are the indigenous people of Borneo. The Dayak include dozens of different ethnic groups, some of which differ greatly from one another in terms of language, culture and way of life. The Dayak belong to the warlike Austronesian peoples who colonised Southeast Asia from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Most Dayak ethnic groups speak their own languages, but they all belong to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family