Wczesnośredniowieczne maski Słowian. Obrazy zmarłych, bogów, czy rekwizyty rytualne?

Abstract

Masks have played an important role in human culture since the earliest times. In the present paper Slavic masks that date back to the Early Middle Ages are analyzed. The collection of artefacts consists of extraordinary finds from Opole and their somewhat later analogies from Veliky Novgorod and its surroundings, which constitutes the whole catalogue of Slavic finds. Masks are connected with different kinds of performative activities. However, I will make an attempt to prove that in the discussed chronological and cultural context they were explicitly associated with the world of the dead. Such information can be found in several written sources related to the religious beliefs of the Slavs. The article presents possible interpretation paths that allow us to see masks as images of gods, the deceased, or to interpret them as ritual props connected with annual rites, during which hosting the dead was one of the key elements.

Keywords

• masks
• Early Middle Ages
• Slavic religious beliefs
• afterlife
• pre-Christian rituals