Nunivak Island
Yupik Inuit carver

Wood, pigment, feathers
ca. Early 20th century
Height: 12 in; Width: 18 in
Other – Regalia 

This Yup’ik Inuit hoop mask demonstrates the tradition of mask-making on the Nunivak Island off the coast of Alaska, where the Cup’ig sub-dialect of the Yup’ik language is spoken.  Masks, such as this one with a walrus’s face are danced in ceremonies to ask the spirits of animals to continue to feed the human community. The two rings encircling the mask represent a “pretend universe” or ellanguaq where animal spirit beings dwell.  The stylized appendages in the encircling rings represent a seal and its flippers and two whale tails all fastened to feather wands.  The walrus face and appendages are painted with black, red, and white pigment.

These masks were carved by men or women, but mostly by men.  They range in size from small finger masks or maskettes to large masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several people.  They are used to bring the person wearing it luck and good fortune in hunts.  They are also worn during the long winter darkness dances and during storytelling.  According to ‘Our Way of Making Prayer’, www.mnh.si.edu, “After Christian contact in the late nineteenth century, masked dancing was suppressed, and today it is not practiced as it was before in the Yup’ik villages.” 

Resource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yup%27ik_masks