Native American Death Masks

by Angela L. - MSSPI

Masks have been worn by man for ritual and ceremonial purposes since ancient times and can be traced to the Egyptian and Roman periods.The Death Mask in most ancient cultures was made of wax or plaster cast of the persons face. Sometimes while alive, but usually after death had occurred. For the wealthy or the royal families, they were often cast in bronze or gold and placed over the deceased face at burial. The process served as a reminder of the deceased for the family as well as being a protection from evil spirits and was associated with the belief in the return of the spirit.

In North American History, every Native Tribe known to have ever existed, has used masks in some ritual or ceremonial purpose. African, Oceanic and Native American tribes considered masks, to be an important part of social and religious life. Some masks were placed over the head and face , while others were simply painted on the face and other adornments and decorations to the head or hair where added.

Some of the more well known masks were made by the Iroquois, especially those belonging to the very secretive and elusive False Face Society. .They were made of wood and corn husks. It has been said that in order to join the False Face Society one must have envisioned a healing mask in a dream and then made or created it as he saw it. Once this was accomplished they were then permitted to participate in the Societies ceremonies.

The Alaskan Yup'ik tribes are said to have made the most decorative and brightly colored varieties. They were made from a number of materials,

usually whatever resources were available in a specific tribal area. Wood, leather, hides, bones, shells or whatever materials might be available.

Masks were usually created with great personal associations for the wearer or the occasion being celebrated.

Stains and dyes from plants, animals, soil and other materials were used to paint the masks, some of them being quite strange combinations such as blood, coal and urine mixed together.

The Anchorage Museum has a collection of over two-hundred Yup'ik masks that were created during the early 19th and 20th centuries.

The arrival of missionaries to the Yup'ik and other Native tribes began to change the making and use of masks among the Native Americans. The missionaries denounced their masked dances as heathen rituals and their use was practically eliminated by the 1920's.
In 1977 the New York Times reported that there were approximately 2000 surviving masks remaining from this period.

The Cherokee created what is known as the Booger Mask. Made from gourds,  and painted with walnut shell or charcoal dye. They were worn for storytelling and worn during the Booger Dance which was a depiction of the arrival of the Europeans to their native land..

The Booger Mask art fell into severe decline when the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homeland to Oklahoma, where their traditional materials were not available. Read about the Booger Dance Here :

Some North West Coastal tribes had impressively carved cedar masks which could open at a pivotal point in a story to reveal a second mask carved within the first one.The Hopi and Pueblo tribes carved and painted wooden Kachina Masks. Kachina are the symbols of spirits who control crops, weather, health and all other aspects of life. Kachina are also symbols of ancestors who are highly regarded by the Hopi. There are more than five-hundred indivdual Kachina known. Kachina are more commonly know in the form of Kachina dolls. Each doll has it's own special markings, color, and decoration and are used mostly during the winter and summer solstice ceremonies. They are usually carved from Cottonwood trees and range from an inch to a foot in length. Kokopelli is the most popular and well recognized of the Kachina. Kokopelli is a hump backed flute player who is believed to bring good luck, health and happiness to the homes he adorns and is also known as the teacher of Kachina carving.

The Apache and Navajo used leather to make their ceremonial masks. But, the one thing they all had in common was that they all had a ceremonial purpose of some kind for their creators.

Masks were used in a wide variety of ceremonies, including marriage, birth, childhood initiations to adulthood, preparations for war,seed planting, harvesting, hunting, healing and many other occasions including death.

Many tribes used masks in healing rituals. It was believed that masks held spiritual powers that never left them. Because many tribes believed that shamanic powers were genetic, healing masks were often passed down thru the bloodlines of Medicine men and Shaman.

Shaman should not be confused with Medicine men or Medicine women. Medicine people are those who serve as prophets, soothsayers and moral leaders. They are often the tribal storytellers and their services were considered healing. The French called them me'decins or doctors. From this the word medicine became applicable to everything pertaining to these people as well as to anything the Natives held sacred.

Shaman are reportedly capable of bringing cosmic powers into ritual to affect healing. A Shaman must develop and maintain his or her relationship with the spirit world and be always prepared to help others. They are said to receive revelations from the spirits. Shaman are personalities who live in deepened relationships with their cosmology and they assist others to deepen their spiritual relationships with the cosmos around them. They revere and appreciate the Earth and the world around them and they hold the Earth as sacred to their survival.

Medicine hats, though not full face masks were also worn by many shaman and healers throughout the tribes. They were usually adorned with a cross and crescent, representing the four directions and the moon spirits and were painted black, blue, yellow and white which depicted the Four Winds or the East, West, South and North. They were often decorated with such things as, Eagle feathers, turquois gems, beads, shells, deer fur and thong and yellow pollen.

The Hopi tribes and others wore masks while curing and praying over the sick, to alleviate suffering and pain, and to perform exorcisms. Some tribes believed that sickness was caused by malevolent or evil spirits. The Nepcetat mask was worn by the Shaman to predict death. It was literally stuck to the face of the Shaman, if it stayed on during the prayer ritual it meant that the person being prayed for would recover and live. If it fell off during the prayer ritual it meant the person was near death.

Shaman initiates often wore masks during their vision quests, believing that the masks would identify them with the spirits and activate their power. Death masks were believed to facilitate communication between the living and the dead in funerary rites. Some Death masks took the form of animal or bird spirits, allowing the wearer to assume the role of the invoked spirits or to fend off evil. Many Native American tribes believed that birds were a link or messenger between the natural and the supernatural world. It is not unusual to find bird feathers surrounding the masks.


Death masks were also believed to help the deceased soul to pass more easily into the next life. The respect and sacredness of the funeral rites of mask dancing was also believed to protect from reprisals from the dead and prevent the risk of wandering spirits. In some tribes the Death Mask was used in initiatory or homage ceremonies, which recounted the creation story and the appearance of death among human beings.

There were also masks created to resemble the images of bears, wolves, buffalo and otters, and were used to appease the animal spirits. They were often worn in dance ceremonies conducted before the hunt, to ensure that the hunt would be fruitful. This is also seen in African tribal customs where symbols of power animals were depicted, such as, elephants, rams, crocodiles and antelope.
North West Coast Native American Bear Mask carved by the renowed carver Elton La Fountaine from the Cree Tribe

Tsitsistas/So'taeo'o (Cheyenne) quilled horse mask, mid-1800s, Montana. Made from porcupine quills, hawk feathers, brass buttons, seed beads, wool cloth, hide, sinew and cotton thread.
Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American

The Black Fish mask was worn before hunting and fishing expeditions and was believed to protect and empower the hunter.

The Swan Spirit mask was worn during spring ceremonies to entice the swans, ducks, geese and other birds to come back from the South and provide nourishment to the Natives. Most of these type masks were buried with their owners or burned when no longer useful.


In traditional American culture, masks are often worn during festive celebrations, occasions or as simple decorations, wall hangings and museum displays. But, Native American masks are not taken lightly by the Native people. Their use is reserved only for sacred ceremonies and rituals. Only a select few are honored with permissions to wear them. Native American masks are as varied as the tribes themselves, their ceremonies and their beliefs. The creatures that they depict are highly personalized and the materials used to make them are unique to the individual tribes and their geographical locations.



Sources:

Books:

Secrets Of The Sacred White Buffalo by Gary Null PhD 1998 by Prentiss Hall
Walking The Twighlight Path by Michelle Belanger www.llewellyn.com
Adair's History of the American Indian by Samuel Cole Williams 1775 (first published in 1930 by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee.)
American Indian Healing Arts Kavasch, E. Barrie, Baar, Karen 1999 USA: Bantam

Online links

http://www.deathreference.com/Da-Em/Death-Mask.html
http://www.experiencefestival.com/native_american_death_ceremony
http://www.native-languages.org/masks.htm
http://www.missionindianfederation.com/native-american-masks.html
http://www.suite101.com/content/native-american-after-life-rituals-a76036#ixzz12mvDvF00
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/3/98.03.06.x.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/367906/mask/9060/Funerary-and-commemorative-uses
http://www.cherokeeheritagemuseum-gallery.org/Friends.html
http://www.taosblue.com/1southwestart/masks/hopi/hopimaskgallery.html
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/kcc/chap5.htm
http://www.masksoftheworld.com/NoAmerica/Native%20American%20Shaman%20Mask.htm
http://preview.equisearch.com/equiwire_news/horse_nation_exhibition_100609

Early Settlers On The Pototoc Trail - Potts Camp, MS.

The Pontotoc Trail, used for so many years by the early settlers of Mississippi, was once an old Indian trail. Later it became a road. Although Mississippi became a state in 1817, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians held a large part of the land. By the treaties of Dancing Rabbit and Pontotoc of 1830 and 1832, the Indians agreed to give up the land in the Mississippi and move west of the Mississippi River. Colonel Erasmus Ferdinand Potts, born August 21,1801 in South Carolina, traveled the Pontotoc Trail to the Federal Land Office in Pontotoc Ms. in 1836 to purchase land and settle and raise a family.

Col. Potts purchased several sections of land in Marshall and Benton Counties. He also owned land in the Delta. His first home, and a large trading post, was built on the Pontotoc Trail, a short distance from the Tippah River. At this time in history before erosion of the hills, Tippah River ran wide and deep with steep banks, so there were only a few places it could be forded. Where the Pontotoc Trail passed, east of the river was a natural ford, with a broad field and a high bluff on the south. From the bluff poured cool springs of water and the trees near by for firewood made this an ideal place for weary travelers to stop overnight. They used wagons, buggies, and horseback for transportation and as a long journey usually took several days, Colonel Potts encouraged people to stop at the camping site and furnished them with supplies. His hospitality became so widely known, people began to call the place Potts Camp.

Records show that Colonel Potts owned many slaves, cultivated a vast acreage of crops and raised hundreds of head of cattle, driving them overland to Memphis to be sold, or shipped to New Orleans on cattle boats. He also shipped quantities of grain.

Colonel Potts built a 22 room mansion and a girl's school named "Woods Academy". Mary Potts, and her mother, Elizabeth, were instructors there. The school burned in 1855 and the students were transferred to Pontotoc.

In 1856 Potts invested in the Mississippi Central Railroad and furnished most of the material and labor for the section between Holly Springs and Oxford. He became master mechanic and one of the directors of the railroad company. The entire railroad was completely destroyed during the War Between the States. Because of the mud and dusty roads, Potts and his workers layed boards a long distance on the Pontotoc Road. They built the first levee in the Mississippi bottom, also Tippah River bottom.

The first Potts Camp Post Office was built of logs near his home, with Colonel Potts' daughter, Mary, as the first postmistress. It closed when the Civil War started n 1861. Elizabeth Brownlee, whose family settled near Columbus, was the wife of Colonel Potts. They reared three children; another child died at age two and a half years old. ( photo top right Potts Camp in Pioneer Days, courtesy of Dale Potts Hollingsworth)

When the war broke out, Colonel Potts, was too old to fight, so instead, he spent his time and money to help the Confederacy. No one really knew how he came about the name Colonel, however it happened, he had the name before the Civil War.

The Federal Troops stationed in Memphis and Holly Springs rode through the country raiding homes, burning barns and houses and stealing horses, food, and valuables. When the Federals began to take over this area Colonel Potts counted his gold and silver one night, blindfolded two slaves to go with him and rode away in a wagon. After the men dug the holes to bury the treasure, they were blindfolded again. I could find no record or knowledge if it's location was ever known or discovered.

Colonel Potts was arrested, tried on three counts, and convicted for helping the Confederacy. He was sent to Memphis then to Alton Federal Prison (near St. Louis, MO, on the river banks). He was too old to stand the brutal treatment, so the first settler of Potts Camp died December 16, 1863. Federal Troops brought his body home in a metal box filled with shavings. His wife wouldn't let them bury him until she examined the body to be sure it was her husband. After finding a scar on his ear she was satisfied, so they buried him in "Potts Cemetery", near Winborn. After the Federals helped bury Colonel Potts they ripped the carpets from the floors of his home, loaded them in the best carriages the family owned and drove away.

Later in 1870 Elizabeth was buried near him.

His son, James Benton Potts ,was injured while serving the Confederacy and never completely recovered. James B. is buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Holly Springs.

Mary A Potts Reid was the youngest child of Colonel Erasmus Ferdinand Potts .
Mary was born Jan 28, 1840. She attended college in Memphis, Tn and she was fondly favored by her father , who gave her a wonderful party with friends for her wedding. She married Mr. Fant and they had two children, Dora and a son who died very young. Later Mary divorced him. Mr. Charlie Reid became her second husband they reared one son, Cornelius Potts Reid. I found this an unusual bit of documented history, Mr Charles Reid purchased the first bathtub in town and later sold it to Mrs. Julia Porter for her hotel. It was later sold to Sam Howell a local farmer, to use as a watering trough.
Corneille was born, November 11, 1877. Corneille married Mary Lou Anderson of New Albany, Ms. Mary Reid gave her son Corneille the gift of a Bible, which held the following poem, written to her son on Dec 31, 1894.

To My Dear Boy

by Mary Potts Reid

When tempted son, to go astray

Pause, pause, my child; O turn away

From sin's alluring form.

Go to thy chamber and, when there,

Check in thy mother's gift a prayer

A refuge from the storm.

Read, my dear son, believe and live

Than not in vain, this Book I give

To my own darling boy.

Twill smooth for thee life's stormy path

Teach thee to shun thy Maker's wrath

And wear his crown of joy.

When grief shall check thy young heart's mirth

To weep that she who gave thee birth

Has passed into the skies

Then ponder o'er thy mother's gift

It will thy drooping spirit lift

And dry those weeping eyes

And as your hands it's pages turn

Resolve dear boy, of Christ to learn

Be lowly, meek and mild

Remember she who gave this book

May though unseen, upon thee look

Rejoicing in her child.

Mary Potts Reid donated numerous plots of land to the town of Potts Camp including the church lots for both Baptist and Methodist churches in town, school lots, and cemetery land.

The Reid's Gift Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery (African American) are named in her honor, as is, the Mary Reid School. The New building for the Reid's Gift Church was re-built in the 1940's. It sits just on the edge of town on Old Hwy 78 on a small hill.
Mary also donated land for a right of way, when the Frisco Railroad came through this area in 1886. The settlers and merchants of Col Pott's camping ground built a depot about a mile from the river, more settlers and merchants began moving into the area, and they decided on the name their village in honor of Col Potts, who had first settled the land which would later be established as a levee camp in the 1870, and would emerge as the town of Potts Camp in 1912.

Mary A. Reid played an important role in the settlement and growth of Potts Camp by donating large amounts of land to the developement of the community. She was fair and loved by most who knew her, The African American Community as well as the white settler's thought very highly of her.

Mary Potts Reid, her husband Charles and son Corneille are buried near the front section of the Potts Camp Cemetery near the front gate.

The Potts Camp Cemetery

headstone of Mary Potts Reid. Potts Camp Cemetery

The poem and photos of Mary Reid and Col. Potts were used with permission by Mrs Dale Potts Hollingsworth. I had the pleasure of visiting the home of the 94 yr old grt-grt grand-daughter of Col. Potts in May of 2010. Mrs Hollingsworth still lives in Pott's Camp in the home her grandfather, J.A Pott's built in 1910. She is still a writer for The South Reporter, newspaper and is known to most locals as "the town historian". She is also the author of Memories of Potts Camp on the Old Pototoc Trail. published in 1978. She was so kind and gracious to spend some time talking and answering questions with me, about her family and the history of Potts Camp. Without her stories and written records, past down thru the generations, and her willingness to keep the towns history alive, this article would not have been possible.

Headstone of Mary Potts Reid's son, Corneille Potts Reid. Mother & son died 3 months apart. Husband, Charles H Reid died April 17, 1921. According to Mrs. Hollingsworth, the land for the Potts Camp Cemetery was also donated by Mary Potts Reid.
 
Photos and interments of both the Reid's Gift Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery and The Potts Camps Cemetery can be found on the FindAGrave.com website. (see link below)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sources:
Personal Interview with Dale Potts Hollingsworth 2010 by Angela L Burke.
Memories of Potts Camp on the Old Pototoc Trail by Dale Potts Hollingsworth published 1978
The South Reporter Newspaper, archive articles by Dale Potts Hollingsworth.
Reid's Gift Cemetery & Potts Camp Cemetery photos by Angela L Burke