Kegginaquq | (Walrus) Mask

“This mask is made to represent the transformation of the walrus’ spirit from the spirit world into our world. The face of the mask represents the walrus and human spirit. You can see the human spirit in the shape of the eyes. The hoop represents the emergence of the walrus’ face from the spiritual realm. The hands with the holes in the middle represent the passageways where the walruses come through for abundance. The harpoon on top represents the hunters who will be hunting the walrus. You can see how it appears the walruses are going towards the harpoon. The circle and dot symbol seen on the walrus and harpoon pieces is the ‘eye of awareness’, showing respect to the creator of the universe, and also representing the richness of Yup’ik culture.” – Mike Wassilie