With the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring us all to wear face masks for everyone's health protection, the #NationalMuseumPH shares another form of essential face masks but this time for cultural reasons by presenting some of our mask collection from the Province of Marinduque.
Locally called “moryon/morion” (mask), full head face masks are worn by participants as part of their annual practice and a form of penitence and religious vow. Although this year's Moriones Festival was cancelled due to the pandemic, this post serves as a reminder to those returning to work today, at the start of the General Community Quarantine, to wear their face masks.
Although in Spanish morrión refers to a helmet, locals have used the term to refer to their full head masks. The moryon is carved using soft wood varieties such as dapdap (Erythrina variegata) and santol (Sandoricum koetjape) by local woodcarvers. Its features are usually Caucasian: big-eyed, open-mouthed, bearded, with a scowling or frowning expression, much like their ancestors' impression of Europeans or the Spanish colonizers. It is coated with layers of primer paint before finally adding facial details. It would take a couple of months to finish a mask. The turbante (helmet/headgear) are then decorated for instance among the Mogpog penitents with flowers called Bulaklakang Moryon which was believed to be the original design of their mask.
Moryonan is a week-long observance of Christ’s passion during Semana Santa (Holy Week) among the people of the province. It is a folk religious practice to express their panata (vow) as an act of penance or a way of thanksgiving for good health, successful life, or bountiful harvest or catch. Central to the event is the participation of local moriones (penitents), in biblical Roman soldier uniforms and masks, who walk around town under the sweltering summer heat.
Moryonan is a combination of art and devotion of Marinduqueños; a solemn socio-cultural activity rather than a tourist attraction. However, Moryonan was transformed and named Moriones Festival to promote the local tourism of the province during the 1970s. Different fraternities (as it is a predominantly male practice) or organizations of moriones were formed; masks and costumes also became more colorful and elaborate; and sponsorships from big private companies came into picture. Despite various changes through the years, moryonan remains to be the province’s source of pride, conveying spirituality, social solidarity and communal identity.
In 2012, Moriones Festival and the art of mask-making were included in the official inventory of the Philippine Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) with the collaboration of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and ICH Courier of the Asia Pacific (ICHCAP). And to further the understanding of this heritage as well as to appreciate the artisanship of local mask-makers, the National Museum of the Philippines will be installing a permanent exhibition entitled, Moryonan: Art and Devotion in our Marinduque-Romblon museum in Boac.
Poster by MYR Frias and text by AS Alvarez/NMP Ethnology Division
©The National Museum of the Philippines (2020)
