Inca Masks In Peru

The Inca were an ancient native people of modern day Peru. It was very popular amongst their culture to produce various masks for a large variety of events. Many modern day masks made in Peru are closely related in style and tradition to that of the ancient Inca. The types of events that Inca masks would be used for things ranging from celebrations and social status to death and funerals. Peruvian masks have a long history and started with “The Inca civilization first settled in Peru around A.D. 1200. They settled along the Andes Mountains and regularly held religious celebrations to honor the sun god. It was during these rituals that the Inca people created the first Peruvian masks. Made from gold, these masks were worn for nine nights during

Many of the ways, events, and mask are exactly the same as the ones their Inca ancestors did. Today all this translates into lots of cultural importance for the Peruvian people. “these artisans make these masks for the Inca celebrations such as praying to the land, nature and the mountains. These Inca celebrations, despite being old, are still performed by Peruvians who live in the Andes.” (Globerover) The Peruvian people are mostly Inca blood and are simply the decedents of the civilization that fell apart hundreds of years ago. These celebrations still hold a lot of value for many Peruvian people even without Inca background in their family. Many of the Inca mask designs come from “many pre Inca cultures such as Paracas, Mochica, Chimu, Sican and Nazca.” All of these cultures could be considered very closely related to Inca and were very important to every aspect of the Inca mask design. Peruvians use these mask on a large variaty of festivals such as “the festival of Virgin de le Candelaria, you will find thousands and thousands of masks on sale.” (Globerover) As can be seen by the numbers, the Inca masks aree hevily used by Peruvian culture. The example of the Inca masks I created I used purely clay to create it. The mask was molded out of modeling clay and baked until it was dry. It was then later painted a lustrous gold to best replicate the pure gold look that the ancient mask were made of. This mask in particular represents their sun god, Inti. Forming of the mask was done primarily by hand but partially done by table and teaspoon as well as the tips of