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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Costa Rican Masks : Guanacaste Mask with a Bird and Snake Headdress
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Guanacaste Mask with a Bird and Snake Headdress - PF.3356
Origin: Guanacaste Zone, Costa Rica
Circa: 500
AD
to 800
AD
Dimensions:
7" (17.8cm) high
x 5" (12.7cm) wide
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Stone
Location: United States
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| Description |
This mask touches and exhilarates centers of life
beyond our present reality. It serves as a means
of transforming the ordinary to the
extraordinary, the natural to the supernatural.
The mask has always been used as a ritual agent
of transformation in Meso-America. The ritual
wearer of this mask, the shaman, not only
represented the god; he was the god. He
manifested the life-force. Through that ritual
transformation joining the worlds of spirit and
nature, man and god fused in the zone of
mysterious transition marked by the mask itself
This mask is the seat of the soul, where the
outer and inner worlds meet. We are left to
ponder over the mysteries of the universe hidden
behind this mask, and the awakened insights it
has brought to our own inner spirits.
In an Ancient world where animal traits
predominate, it is certain that these animals
were symbolically significant in their myths and
rituals. Birds that flew in the sky appeared to
vanish into the outer world and snakes that
twisted and turned on the earth appeared to
vanish into the inner world. This headdress
displays both bird and snake characteristics. It
brilliantly symbolizes the zone of mysterious
transition marked by the mask where the outer
(bird symbol) and inner (snake symbol) worlds
meet. This mask is the ritual agent of
transformation. The artist depicts the beak of the
bird gently touching the body of the snake
directly above the "third eye". It may represent
the delicate balance between the outer and inner
worlds at the point of transition. The eyes and
mouth of the mask are open creating an intense
feeling of awe and innocence, perhaps of ecstasy.
The ears have an asymmetrical swirling outline,
which may also have symbolic significance. The
rear of the bird displays a geometric pattern. We
are drawn again and again through this
exhilarating composition, compelled to
remember the extraordinary dreams and
mysteries of our life.
- (PF.3356)
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