The Yup’ik and Inupiaq masks of arctic Alaska are made of wood, painted with natural pigments, and sometimes decorated with feathers. Masks varied in size from small three-inch finger masks to ten-kilo masks carried by several people. Masks were often made in pairs, and after ceremony masks normally discarded or destroyed. Only the most important masks made and worn by the ritual specialist sometimes reused.
Yup’ik masks were danced in the middle of winter. A host village would send out messengers to other villages that the ceremony was to begin or start. The host village would always perform. Occasionally the invited village would also immediately reciprocate.
