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What kinds of ceremonies used masks and stage settings in the Torres Strait?
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Oceanic art and architecture
An Aboriginal Australian decorating a tightly woven dilly bag with white, yellow, and ochre (red) paints, Northern Territory, Australia, 1948.
In the Torres Strait, religious life and ceremonial practices centered on three primary types of rites that utilized both decorated masks and stage settings:
- Male initiation cults: These ceremonies involved the use of masks and large effigies of humans, crocodiles, and sharks, which were constructed for the occasion and housed in sacred fenced enclosures.1
- Fertility cults: These rites also incorporated masks and stage settings as part of their religious observance.1
- Funerary ceremonies: Masks were used during these rites to honor the deceased.1
The stage settings for these ceremonies typically consisted of screens, before which dancers would appear to perform reenactments of myths. While masks were used across these rites, their specific forms varied; for example, masks used in hero cults were often worn horizontally on the head to represent fish or combinations of creatures, whereas funerary masks were more naturalistic and adorned with wigs and beards of human hair.1