Tibetan Mask

Mask is "vbag" in Tibetan language, which means the mask is made up of soil. Furthermore, it also means living ghost, like vcagmo and so on. From this, we can see that Tibetan mask culture is closely related with the Buddha and ghost statues in religion. With religion continuously permeate into mask culture, mask developed into three kinds: religious dancing mask, hanging mask and Tibetan opera mask.

Tibetan Mask – Religious Dancing Mask

Religious dancing mask developed with religious dancing ceremony which is held in every religious festival. People dance to fight against ghost and drive off evil spirits. This dance care more about the illusory religious spirits, use it to show a kind of serious atmosphere. It uses the image of mask and actors' performance to deepen its religious effects, thus work on people's concept and the society. The masks which religious dancers dress include ghost, immortal, prince of Dharma, various patron saints and animal totem. Religious dancing masks are three dimensional masks; also include a little part of plain cloth mask. The types include leather, wood, copper, soil, cloth and so on. Leather mask is early period mask, like the "rhinoceros mask" which is mentioned in Tibetan and Han Nationality history works; and most metal masks are made up of thin copper sheet.

Tibetan Mask – Tibetan Opera Mask

Tibetan opera mask can be divided into three dimensional masks and geometric plane surface masks. It is the most interesting mask in Tibetan masks. In 14th century, Tang Dongbo advocated Tibetan opera and he created "Wenba (hunter) mask" based on his face. In early period, Tibetan opera mask can be divided into blue and white, which is made up of goat skin. Later, some of masks made up of paper or cloth board. Base on the Tibetan opera plot, the masks include king, immortal, siren, princess and so on.

Tibetan Mask – Hanging Mask

Most of hanging masks are made up of soil, leather, and paper pulp and so on. It is hanging on the wall or column of monastery to let people worship. The masks include the guardian of Buddhism, Deity, Consort, local God and so on; furthermore, there are "Zan"( male ghost), "Pamu" (female ghost" and others different class "ker" which belong to "slave" category. The religious masks which mostly close to and show the reality is the series of ghost mask, including Jiebo (the king of ghost), Zan (mountain demons), Banu (succubus). This category masks fully showed distinctive and mysterious cultural phenomenon of Tibetan religion.