Yupʼik masks



Yup'ik masks (Yup'ik kegginaquq sg kegginaquk dual  kegginaqut pl and nepcetaq sg  nepcetat pl ; in the Lower Yukon dialects avangcaq sg  avangcak dual  avangcat pl ; in Nunivak Cup'ig dialect agayu) are expressive shamanic ritual masks made by the Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik masks for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig masks for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking people of Nunivak Island. They are typically made of wood, and painted with few colors. The Yup'ik masks were carved by men or women, but mainly were carved by the men. The shamans (angalkuq) were the ones that told the carvers how to make the masks. Yup'ik masks could be small three-inch finger masks or maskettes (or dance fans, in the Lower Yukon Yup'ik dialects tegumiaq sg tegumiak dual tegumiat pl ), but also ten-kilo masks hung from the ceiling or carried by several people. These masks are used to bring the person wearing it luck and good fortune in hunts. Over the long winter darkness dances and storytelling took place in the qasgiq using these masks. They most often create masks for ceremonies but the masks are traditionally destroyed after being used. After Christian contact in the late nineteenth century, masked dancing was suppressed, and today it is not practiced as it was before in the Yup'ik villages.

While the Iñupiaq and Yup'ik are culturally and ethnically related, separated only by language differences and, often, hundreds of miles of territory, they have developed distinct versions of similar traditional mask forms. In the case of the Iñupiaq, masks are typically less elaborate than those made by their Yup'ik neighbors to the south-east, and usually smaller, covering only the face.

Yup'ik masks are often compared to the European surrealist tradition. A 2018 show in New York City explored this comparison.