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Mask Museum, Ambalangoda
with
Honeybee Taxi and Tours
The Mask museum, Ambalangoda is
maintain by Ariyapala & Sons. This is located by the Colombo - Galle
main road, in sea side.
The town is renowned for the
manufacture of wooden masks and puppets. The traditional masks are
carved from light Balsa like Kaduru wood (Nux vomica). Kaduru trees grow
in the marshy lands bordering paddy fields. The wood is smoke dried for
a week in preparation. The hand carved and hand painted masks in
traditional dance dramas are both vibrant and colorful. Masks are
created for three different types of dancing rituals: 'Kolam', which
tell mocking stories of traditional Sri Lankan colonial life; 'Sanni',
or devil dancing masks, used in a type of exorcism ceremony to heal
people of persisting illnesses believed to be inflicted by demons; and
'Raksha' masks, which are used in festivals and processions. The Naga
Raksha (Cobra demon) mask of the 'Raksha Kolama' (demon dance), consists
of a ferocious face with bulging, popping & staring eyes, a
bloodthirsty carnivorous tongue lolling out of wide mouth armoured and
armed to the hilt with set of fanglike teeth, all topped by a set of
cobra hoods. (Wiki, 2014)
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