Scribd
Upload
2 views2 pages

MAKING FACE

The document discusses the author's collection of masks and their cultural significance, highlighting experiences from trips to Greece, Romania, and Bali. It also explores how different cultures, such as the Northern Arapaho and the Karo in Ethiopia, use face paint to express identity and honor traditions. Additionally, it describes the Maori people's permanent facial designs that signify family heritage and belonging.

Uploaded by

Huong Hoang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views2 pages

MAKING FACE

The document discusses the author's collection of masks and their cultural significance, highlighting experiences from trips to Greece, Romania, and Bali. It also explores how different cultures, such as the Northern Arapaho and the Karo in Ethiopia, use face paint to express identity and honor traditions. Additionally, it describes the Maori people's permanent facial designs that signify family heritage and belonging.

Uploaded by

Huong Hoang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

MAKING FACE

My Collection

My young neighbor was shocked. It was her first visit to my house, and everywhere she turned,
another strange face stared back at her. There were big faces and small faces. Some were bright, and
others were plain. At last, she said, “You really have an interesting place here!”. I collect masks, so my
house is filled with them. I have about 150. Masks amaze me with their power. They change how
people look and act!

I take trips to study masks. In Greece, I watched people make masks that were just like masks used in
ancient times. Back then, actors wore masks in plays. Different masks helped actors play more than
one part.

My trip to Romania was great, too. There I saw masks change people into hairy, wild men. To
celebrate the start of spring, people put on these masks and then run through the streets.

Full of Spirit

One of my favorite trips was to Bali. It is an island in Indonesia that is famous for its wooden masks.
There I learned how to carve wooden masks.

Carving masks is hard work. After the masks are carved, artists paint them with many colors. They use
15 to 20 coats of paint to get each mask just right. Some artists add hair or jewels. The masks are used
in plays about good and evil. People in Bali believe that the character’s spirit lives in each mask.
Wearing masks helps people act as those characters. Many cultures have similar beliefs about the
power of masks.

Wearing the Wolf

Masks are not the only way that people make faces. Some people put paint or ink on their faces to
change the way they look.

The Northern Arapaho people in Wyoming do that. They wear paint and headgear to look like wolves.
The wolf is special to them because the Northern Arapaho see wolves as teachers. Now the Arapaho
honor wolves with dances they perform at gatherings called powwows. Face paint helps dancers look
the part.

Watching wolves taught them to hunt and showed them how to share food.

Standing Out

The Karo are a people from the East African country of Ethiopia who also paint themselves. They live
near a larger group of people. Since both groups speak similar languages, the Karo could easily blend
into the larger group and lose their culture. Instead, they want to stand out. To do so, they smear white
and yellow paint on their faces. Sometimes they add dots and lines. Their face paint says, “ Look at
me. I am proud to be Karo!”

Read My Face

The Maori are a people in New Zealand. To them, designs on a face tell a story. One side of a man’s
face tells about his father’s family, and the other side tells about his mother’s family. Women also
wear these designs. But they do not have as many as men.

Maori face decorations are permanent. Artists cut the designs into the skin. Then they put color into the
cuts to make blue-black marks. The process takes a long time and very painful, yet the Maori accept
the pain because the designs are signs of belonging to the group.

You might also like