As an island that has a cultural history of more than 2500 years,Sri lanka has been able to develop a wide variety of spectacular art crafts of its own.Since very ancient times,wooden masks have always had a great position among all the Sri lankan traditional crafts.
One well known purpose of these masks was to be used in various dramatic rituals in Sri lanka like"Bali","Kohomba kankaariya"(Sri lankan devil dance)etc.These masked can be broadly classified as mythological,demonic,animal spirit and human figures.Of these,animal and demonic ones are considered as the oldest and some believe they represent ungodly practices(related to very ancient times)while mythological masks are considered to be an iconography of the folk religions of the historic period of Sri lanka.On the other hand human masks believed to be evolved in recent times.Some of these masks are used for healing purposes as well.
As you can see these masks are very colourful and express different kinds of emotions.They play a key role in dramatic rituals where they give the spectator some joy and excitement while always conveying a deeper meaning for them to catch.
want to see a video? watch a video of Sri lankan mask dance
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