St. Michael, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
Accession Date:
10 Sep 1876
Notes:
FROM CARD: "SMALL HUMAN FACE PAINTED WHITE RED EDGE - BROWS AND BEARD ARE BLACK-SLIT EYES-2 ROWS OF WOODEN TEETH. INVENTORIED 1977."
This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=536 , retrieved 1-11-2022; see web page for additional information: Mask, Inupiaq. During winter ceremonies on King Island, both men and women put on clothing and masks to represent the opposite sex. This mask from Norton Sound represents a woman's face, with peg teeth and traditional chin tattoos. Masks were featured in many winter hunting festivals and at Kivgiq, the Messenger Feast, when people from different villages came together to dance, exchange gifts, and compete in athletic contests.
