Funeral Masks of the Zhuang people in nationalities Museum of Kunming
Known as Longyawai Masks, they are funeral ceremony masks popular in the Zhuang communities of Wenshan Autonomous Prefecture, on the east of Yunnan Province.
The masks are shaped as a lion, they are in fact a cow head called «Longyawai», a gift given by the living to the dead, symbolizing that is a real cow for feeding them in the afterlife. The purpose is to let the dead live a carefree life in underworld with no concern of the human world.
These masks are made of paper pasted on a bamboo frame and are used together with two grim face masks.
Three people wear the three masks to dance on the day commemorating the dead and the following day for the funeral procession.
The museum exhibits three large masks, one with a lion’s head, one cow’s head and one with a shepherd’s head. They are very elaborate and of complex design, with huge mouths, eyes like round mirrors, and sometimes with fabrics hanging to cover the wearer. There are two smaller and simpler ones, one with the face of a monkey, used by the companions in the procession.
Yunnan Nationalities Museum, in Kunming, has one of the best collections of masks in China.
References:
–Masks in the Yunnan Nationalities Museum. Download the free book.
Last posts
Hong Ying- An Art of Love without art and without love
Hong Ying- An Art of Love without art and without love In Brief: A scandalous novel that fails to shock, and an art of love that is conspicuous by its absence. Already from the beginning, we know that this is a love story without a future because the novel begins with...
Pingyao, the city where time stopped
Pingyao, the city where time stopped In short: A fully preserved Qing dynasty-style city, with some older buildings, surrounded by a complete city wall, and interesting temples in its neighborhood. Pingyao is one of the best-preserved cities in northern China,...
Black Coal, Thin Ice, by Diao Yinan
Black Coal, Thin Ice, by Diao Yinan In short: a film narrated in a gray and sometimes sordid atmosphere, in a dark winter, of climate and spirit, which presents a mystery in which the viewer is gradually seduced. In an eminently mining region, human limbs begin to...