Ritual Mask
Ex-victims must subsequently offer a festival to their protector apapaatai according to a larger cycle whose periodicity can vary from some months to several years. They will therefore have to look after the flutes or masks of the apapaatai which now belong to them and which will remain in their house or in the house of flutes (kuwakuho). The flutes are preserved with extreme care, but the masks are kept until they deteriorate or until a suitable moment for burning them.
© Kieron Nelson 2011"Vanishing Cultures Photography" All rights reserved
