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Sulka Dance Masks from East New Britain
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| Male Headdress Masks (Sisiu), 20th Century Sulka people; East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia Wood, fiber, tonga leaves and natural pigment; 31 1/2 x 31 x 23 1/2 in. 2009.6.1 Bowers Museum General Acquisition Fund Purchase |
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| Female Headdress Mask (Sisiu), 20th Century Sulka people; East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia Wood, fiber, tonga leaves and natural pigment; 31 1/2 x 31 x 23 1/2 in. 2009.6.2 Bowers Museum General Acquisition Fund Purchase |
The Sulka are a people who live on the southern shore of Wide Bay, which is in East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea.Although the Sulka have been Christians for decades, they still hold on to many of their traditional beliefs and practices.The Sulka are most widely known for their distinctive dance masks, which portray spirits and are performed with at special ceremonies.
To the uninitiated, the masks are meant to appear as actual supernatural beings. The men of the village will construct special huts deep in the forest where they create the masks in secret. Both boys and girls undergo initiation ceremonies when they reach puberty, but only the boys will learn the esoteric knowledge surrounding mask making. Women and children are strictly forbidden from witnessing the process. The Sulka men create two different kinds of masks: the hemlaut, which are tall and umbrella-like, and the sisiu, which have a conical or cylindrical shape. Sisiu masks can be further subdivided into two varieties, the o nunu and the o ptaek. O nunu have anthropomorphic figures while o ptaek are more abstract.These two masks currently on display in Bowers’ Spirits and Headhunters gallery are sisiu masks of the o nunu variety.
Ceremonies are held to celebrate significant events for the Sulka people. The masks will make appearances at the initiation ceremonies of boys and girls, weddings, and funerals. Today the Sulka also hold ceremonies for less traditional purposes as well, such as for the inauguration of a new business or for the consecration of a church. At the ceremonies, women will sing and dance to the beat drums. Eventually the festivities are interrupted by the sound of a conch shell blown like a trumpet. The masked dancers then appear from the forest or from behind a wall of leaves that obscures their approach. They wear costumes made of leaves and rattan that completely hide their bodies. Usually a hemlaut mask dance is performed first, and then dancers with sisiu masks will perform. The dances never last for more than ten minutes, and after the ceremonies, the masks are ritually burned up in secret.
In order to obtain Sulka dance masks for museums, deals must be secretly made with the men and the exchanges must take place at night to avoid detection by the women or children. While the Sulka appreciate outside interest in their culture, Sulka elders can still have concerns about accidentally divulging their secrets to the women.
All text and images under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use. Information subject to change upon further research.
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