Masks and Dances

Ethnologist Leo Frobenius (1873–1938) displayed an interesting train of thought when he argued that societies of masks were male secret societies, originally created during matriarchy and aimed to scare the women in power. Later, the famed historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, said that by pretending to be demons, the men strived to “undermine the economic, social, and religious supremacy [of women].”

See my book Transcendent Wisdom of the Maya

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--Photographs from ethnographic expeditions--