#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The new exhibition gives Dudinka residents and the Taimyr capital guests the opportunity to get acquainted with exhibits from the Russian Ethnographic Museum’s collection; to see the culture of the Slavic and Roman peoples, Finno-Ugrians and Balts, the peoples of the Caucasus and Siberia. Masks are a connection between ancient rituals and modern holiday traditions.
The exhibition consists of several thematic blocks. The most extensive one is devoted to masks that are used in calendar and wedding ceremonies of the Eurasian peoples. Thus, the Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Romance nations use disguising, that is, they transform into fairy-tale or mythical characters during winter Christmastide and Maslenitsa. Also, disguisers are an integral part of the autumn agricultural holidays. In the Caucasus, masks were used during the New Year holidays, before the start and end of agricultural work. In many cultures, disguisers participated in wedding ceremonies.
Peoples of Siberia and the Far East wear birch bark masks; the Hanty and Mansi use them for ‘bear dances’; and the Koryaks wear wooden faces during the autumn holiday. The exhibition allows you to appreciate the skill of making masks from various materials, and feel the magical energy of these guides to other worlds.
It is impossible to pass by the block with shamanic masks of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East. Covering the face with a mask allowed shamans to concentrate and quickly achieve an ecstatic state for better communication with spirits. It is believed that by putting on the mask of an ancestor, the shaman lets his spirit into himself, that helps in the ritual. Sometimes on the clothes of shamans or their personal belongings you can see maskoids (mask-like objects) made of wood and metal. They were widely used by the Evenks, Nenets, Enets, and Nganasans.
The exhibition Masks: Facets of Traditions is mesmerizing and certainly does not leave visitors indifferent.
The exhibition will be open until August 4 inclusive, so everyone has a chance to see it.
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Text: Maria Sanina, Photo: author
