1990s Agayuliyararput: The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks 16 Postcards Porfolio

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Agayuliyararput the living traditions of Yup’ik Masks
A portfolio of sixteen postcards of Alaska Yup’ik ceremonial masks
The Exhibit
The … Read more Agayuliyararput the living traditions of Yup’ik Masks
A portfolio of sixteen postcards of Alaska Yup’ik ceremonial masks
The Exhibit
The masks included in this postcard book are part of the exhibit Agayuliyararput: The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks, a selection of more than 225 Yup'ik masks from museum collections around the world.
This exhibit is expected to tour nationwide for two years, including villages in western Alaska. It was curated by Ann Fienup-Riordan, Ph.D., a cultural anthropologist who has worked on Yup'ik themes for more than 25 years, with the assistance and involvement of other scholars of arctic anthropology and the Yup'ik community in western Alaska.
A catalog for this exhibit, published by the Anchorage Museum of History and Art with the University of Washington Press, is available through the Anchorage Museum Shop.
Ceremonial Masks
The ceremonial traditions of the central Yup'ik Eskimos of western Alaska are among the most elaborate and complex traditions of any Arctic people. The hooped masks, decorated with feather tufts and wooden appendages, are central to understanding the ceremonies and culture of these people. Masks were made to be used in exuberant ceremonies. Many were destroyed after use. The connection between the masks and the tales they tell is fundamental.
The 19th century Yup'ik ceremonial cycle consisted of five major ceremonies: the Bladder Festival (Nakaciuq), the Feast for the Dead (Elriq), the Messenger Feast (Kevgiq), the men and women's exchange dance (Petugtaq) and the masked dances known as Kelek. Kelek was the only ceremony during which masks were used and it was performed in a large part to honor the animals on whom the peoples' future depended.
These dances, suppressed by missionaries at the turn of the century, all but ceased by the 1920s. Masks continued to be made for sale and by the 1980s they began to be used again as part of dance performances. The 1990s has seen a renewed interest on the part of Yup'ik carvers and performers in viewing the masks their forefathers created.
Anchorage Museum of History and Art
Anchorage, Alaska
ISBN 0-936425-44-X 50000
4 3/4” H x 7” W x 3/4” D See less