Double-Faced Headdress Mask for Nalawan Ritual

About the Art

This headdress mask comes from Malakula, the second largest island in Vanuatu, a nation of 85 islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean near Australia. Headdress masks like this are worn in Nalawan rituals. Nalawan is the general term for a variety of male-only restricted-entry societies that maintain ritual knowledge and performance. These societies continue today. The mask is a materialized spirit form that permits the wearer, during the ritual, to become the spirit that it portrays.

Nalawan are one piece of the larger puzzle of Kastom, the pidgin word for the traditional way of life in the islands in Vanuatu—including beliefs and rituals—that has been practiced for untold generations. It is a way of understanding and cultivating the connections between the human material world and the non-material spirit worlds.

All major participants in Nalawan are male, but female relatives may play a supporting role in ritual dance processions. Likewise, women have their own rituals and dance processions where men are excluded, or play a minor role.

FEATURED IMAGE
Artist(s) unknown (Vanuatu, Malakulan), Double-Faced Headdress Mask for Nalawan Ritual, mid-20th century, feathers, pigment, tusks, teeth, fiber, vegetable fiber, clay encrustation, height (without feathers) 13 inches. Gift of Dr. Arthur M. Culler, 1944.84