In the battle scene in Sigurd, the Volsung, the curtains open on a stage where a low mound and one tree is silhouetted against a twilight sky. A bit of afterglow still lingers. On the ground are several shields and spears and two prostrate figures. Against one of the figures lies Sigmund, the great Norse hero. Beside him kneels his faithful wife, Hiordis. The audience feels that, shrouded in the mysterious blue light, are a great host of noble slain. Sigmund bids Hiordis gather up the pieces of his broken sword to keep for his son that is to be born. Out of the shadows, dimly seen in his “gleaming gray mantle and cloud-blue hood,” comes Odin, to welcome Sigmund to the hall of the heroes in Walhalla. Hiordis bows her head in silence and the audience experiences her grief, and shares her hope for the future. The afterglow in the sky seems to be a promise of a new day.
MASKS
CHAPTER I
The Map of the Mask
From the map it is evident that masks have been worn in every part of the world. They are older than the idols which primitive man made for himself. Why he invented masks we do not exactly know. They may have originated when man first attempted to impersonate the gods as he sought to control nature. If you can imagine how vast and mysterious the world of nature looked to primitive man and how he felt about all moving things, animals, clouds, winds, flowing water, swaying trees, and creeping vines, you can understand how he came to believe that there were spirits dwelling in such things and that these indwelling spirits had power to work him good or evil. Through offerings and prayers he sought to control these mysterious spirits and make them do his will.
Death was the greatest of all mysteries. Where did the spirit go when it left the body? It must go somewhere. Why not into an animal, or a tree, or even into a stone? Gradually this came to be his belief. His desire for mastery and power over the spirits led him to imagine faces more powerful and compelling than his own which would dominate them. He was full of invention. He invented the mask and became a god. When he wore the mask he believed that he controlled indwelling spirits and even coming events. This belief was true of primitive man the world over.
In Africa, masks were always worn in the tribal religious rites. When a dancer wore a mask, he was no longer an individual for he felt within himself the spirit of all his tribe. When the dance was finished, the mask was taken from the head and worshiped like an idol. These masks were created by the greatest artists of the tribe. They were simple, strong, and severe, without naturalism of any kind. They exaggerated the character of eyes, nose, and mouth in order to give intensity of expression. They were strange, but not terrifying. They were an effort to reveal the inner relations of man, nature, and God. They were beautifully made out of wood, copper, bronze, and ivory.
Quite different masks are found among the primitive people of North America. The Eskimos in Alaska make animal masks such as of the bear, wolf, beaver, and various birds to represent their totem ancestors. Every totemistic tribe has its own animal ancestor which it believes is impressed upon everything around the dwelling. The Eskimos believe that in the early days, if animals wished to assume human form, they could do so at will by pushing up their faces or beaks, as if they were masks. This human or man-like form they called the “inua.” It was supposed to represent the thinking part of the animal, and, at its death, became its shade or ghost. During the many festivals when the Eskimos wore their animal masks, they believed that they actually became the creature that they represented. Some of their masks were ingeniously made with double faces, so arranged that, at certain times in the ceremony, the outer mask which was held in place by pegs could be removed, thus symbolizing the transformation of the animal into the man.