Second Face Museum of Cultural Masks
The Second Face Museum of Cultural Masks is the world’s largest, fully online museum of global cultural masquerade. It was founded as a non-profit organization in 2017 with the purpose of displaying a representative collection of cultural masks from around the world, sponsoring research into global masquerading traditions, and preserving historical evidence of masked ceremonies and events through photographic and film recordation. The Museum currently exhibits 728 masks from nearly every major ethnic group in the world, regularly engages in free public education activities, and has produced 25 short documentary films on masked traditions on four continents. Its board is currently led by Professor Aaron Fellmeth.
Heaviest wearable ritual mask
The heaviest wearable ritual masks are the dadak merak masks, weighing up to 50–80 kg (110–176 lb), which are worn by performers known as pembarong during the Reog Ponorogo dance of eastern Java, Indonesia. Depicting the folkloric character of the Tiger King (Singo Barong), key features of the dadak merak are a tiger/lion-shaped head crowned by a minimum of 1,500 peacock feathers. Incredibly, much of this weight is borne by the teeth via a piece of wood (the cokotan).
The biggest examples of dadak merak can measure more than 2 m (6 ft 6 in) tall and the same in diameter.
Given the huge strength and conditioning it takes to wield such a heavy mask, pembarong performers traditionally have associations with mysticism and supernatural power.
The Reog Ponorogo dance is performed at a range of community events, including weddings, national holidays, circumcisions and local festivals, with different routines and stories befitting the celebration and a particular theme including leadership and hope. Albeit generally considered the star of the show, the pembarong is one of several characters that appear in various guises as part of the dance, also featuring other kings, knights and mounted warriors, all accompanied by musicians and singers.