Morion Head Mask
The morion head mask is central to the Moriones Festival in Marinduque. It is traditionally designed to resemble Caucasian features, specifically that of a Roman legionnaire.
A morion mask is usually made out of the wood of dapdap, dita, or santol trees which are abundant in Marinduque. It takes months to carve each mask. Painting the mask takes about two weeks to finish and dry. At most, it takes seven to eight coatings of eight different colors of flat wood enamel paint, dominantly red and black, to finish the work.
In Mogpog town, a morion mask is traditionally set with a headgear called a bulaklakan turbante. It is called such because flowers made out of different colors of Japanese paper are tucked onto this headgear. Traditionally the number of flowers in the turbante signifies the number of years a person will participate in the Moriones. As he finishes the ritual each year, he removes a flower from his turbante until none is left, signaling the completion of his vow.
Source: Pinagmulan: Enumeration from the Philippine Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage / Photo by Renato Rastrollo
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