R.
Gessain, “Dance
Masks of Ammassalik" (East Coast of Greenland) Arctic Anthropology Vol
21. No.2, 1984.
“The
Danish botanist Christian Kruuse lived in Ammassalik from 1898 to 1902 and
made a number of observations about masks, the presence of which in Ammassalik
were a revelation to the ethnological world. He wrote that: ‘the inhabitants
of Ammasalik carved masks in driftwood…they are not used as one could
think it…for religious reasons…If they had such a value, it has
been lost…they are now toys which are used to frighten children….’
"To
understand Kruuse’s statements, one needs to place them in the context
of Ammassilik culture at the very beginning of the twentieth century.
The missionary
F.C.P. Rüttel, established there since 1894, had acquired enough influence
to forbid the use of every drum, dance, and mask, which he considered inimical
to his evangelization. He demanded that all things that he considered to be
pagan were to be thrown into the fire or the sea.” R.Gessain, “Dance
Masks of Ammassalik" (East Coast of Greenland) Arctic Anthropology Vol
21. No
2, 1984.
The
missionary F.C.P. Rüttel, established there since 1894, had acquired
enough influence to forbid the use of every drum, dance, and mask, which
he considered inimical to his evangelization. He demanded that all things
that he considered to be pagan were to be thrown into the fire or the sea.” R.Gessain, “Dance
Masks of Ammassalik" (East Coast of Greenland) Arctic Anthropology Vol
21. No
2, 1984.
|
 |
This
big face is,in my opinion,that
of a mythical being, a cephalopod
also known, for instance, among the Canadian Inuit. This linguistic
confusion was maintained by the Ammassalimiut to protect themselves
from the intransigence of the missionary Rüttel." |
