Preserving Puerto Rico’s Vibrant Mask-Making Tradition
The Puerto Rico Mask Collective honors our rich history.
La vida es una máscara — tú tienes que sonreír si estás triste, a veces das una cara que no es la que sientes o con un particular, es un rostro de ese momento.
~ Artesana y Defensora de la cultura puertorriqueña, Olga Costa Alfaro
Dedicated to the conservation and promotion of El Vejigante mask-making handicrafts, El Colectivo de Máscaras de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rico Mask Collective — ‘The Collective’) has spent the past five years organizing exhibits, workshops, and community discussions to revive an appreciation of the craft. This year, their three-week-long exhibition was positioned as a prelude to Loíza’s vibrant summer festival honoring Santiago Apóstol (St. James the Apostle.)
Canóvanas, Puerto Rico.
Jointly sponsored by The School of Handicraft Workshops at The Outlets and the municipality of its neighboring town Canóvanas, the exhibition ran from July 8–30 at the School’s multi-use gallery space. The Collective chose the timing to coincide with Loíza’s week-long vibrant festival tradition wherein masks and four other characters are ubiquitous: el vejigante/la vejiganta (no direct translation), el viejo (the elder), la loca (the eclectic woman — a man dressed as a femme), and el caballero (the gentleman.)
Though the tradition honoring Santiago Apóstol arrives here by way of the Spaniards (our first colonizers), it turns into something entirely different due to the fact that this northeast coastal town [of Loíza] was largely populated by Borikén’s original Indigenous inhabitants, followed by kidnapped Africans brought here and subsequently enslaved by the Spanish.
Each of the four personas has a distinct meaning in the tradition. The vejigante — a word comprised of vejiga (bladder) and gigante (giant) — is a mischievous, yet beloved character dressed in a large brightly colored, romper-style outfit carrying a stick with a bag (bladder) at its end — one used to playfully strike onlookers. Recognized by their vibrantly hued, multi-horned [coconut] mask* with large, protruding teeth, its seemingly scary appearance is juxtaposed by its playfulness. (*Important note: in the northeast coastal town of Loíza, the vejigante masks are carved from coconut, whereas in the southern coastal town of Ponce, they are made of paper maché.)
Originally riding on horseback, el caballero represents the ‘gentlemanly’ European soldiers from centuries ago. Their signature attire includes softly painted mesh wire masks and large decorative hats adorned with dangling ribbons.
El viejo represents the poor — dressed in ragged clothing, and wearing a paper mask, he is often seen begging for money. La loca is often presented wearing a smock dress, head wrap and flip flops, carrying a broom to sweep away the ‘evil spirits.’
With this exhibition, the Collective’s mission was to engage and educate the public about the various mask-carving artisan techniques via workshops and dialogue.
By timing it around Loíza’s annual festival its members intended to bring increased awareness of this art vis-à-vis our rich Afro-Puerto Rican cultural heritage.
Native of Loíza and renowned vejigante mask carver, Luigi Carrasquillo shares insights on his enthusiasm for learning [and teaching] the mask carving craft tradition:
I’ve given workshops in schools, and you see their [the children’s] initial enthusiasm, but other than attending a session, I don’t see their desire to continue the tradition. In my experience, it’s often the adults and elders who are interested in learning about mask carving.
The Collective’s founding member, 30-year mask carver veteran, artisan, and cultural proponent, Olga Costa Alfaro describes the danger of losing this cultural heritage:
As someone who advocates for the rights of Puerto Rican artisans, we wanted to highlight Loíza’s nearly 200-year Santiago devotional tradition. We’ve done research about the history of the festival and with this project, our intention is to generate renewed interest in el vejigante mask carving and mask-making art. I started doing this because I noticed the scarcity of mask carver representation in events around the archipelago. So I had the idea of a collective of artisans to rescue this part of our cultural heritage.
To understand why the tradition of Puerto Rican mask carving and making is at risk, we return to the Collective’s founder, Olga Costa Alfaro:
There’s a sentiment of elitism where sectors don’t deem this type of work worthy of platforms for exposure. Cultural preservation and identity are not viewed as important.
As a fierce advocate of her rich Puerto Rican culture, artisan Costa Alfaro gets philosophical about her dedication to the craft —
Life is a mask — you have to smile when you’re sad and sometimes put on a certain face that’s different from what you’re really feeling (whether it’s around a specific person). It’s a face [mask] for that particular moment.
Many of us, artisans and supporters alike, understand the importance of this craft for our cultural identity and for future generations of puertorriqueñes y puertorriqueños. It is part of who we are — we will continue to defend and promote its significance.
Artisans participating in the exhibition: Nitza Aquino ~ Allison Arocho ~ Luigi Carrasquillo ~ Isbela Casanova ~ Olga Costa Alfaro ~ Edwin Cotto ~ Wilda Cruz ~ Norma Gómez ~ Juan Gustavo González ~ Minerva Hernández ~ Alex Hernández Belaval ~ Pedro Juan La Viera ~ Gabriel López ~ Harold Maldonado ~ Teresa Meléndez Padilla ~ Marcos Peñaloza Pica ~ Juan Carlos Pérez Sulé ~ Carellys Pizarro ~ Ivette Pizarro ~ Wilcelino Pizarro ~ Norma Rivera ~ Maria E Rivera Laborde ~ Celestina Robles ~ Dwight Santiago ~ Ramón Luis Valdés ~ Teddy Vázquez ~ Wilfredo Vigo ~ Juan Pablo Vizcaíno
The following also participated: silkscreen artist, painter & sculptor, Samuel Lind and director/visual artist, Rosamary Berríos Hernández (with a screen monitor showing a short clip of her documentary, Santiago de Las Mujeres).
To learn more about Las Máscaras de Puerto Rico Collective, visit their site.
Images: all photos taken by the author, for work commissioned under Lola’s Lines.
The original interview with Olga Costa Alfaro was published in Spanish at El Post Antillano on August 11, 2023.
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