Sri Lanka · Mask Making / Ritual Craft
කෝලම් (Kolam)
Kolam (කෝලම්) masks are the carved and painted wooden masks used in Sri Lanka's folk theater (kolam natya) and healing ceremonies (tovil). Ambalangoda (Southern Province) is the primary center, with a long lineage of mask-making families producing the 64 canonical kolam character types: from the serene Naga (cobra demon), to the comic Vasala (low-caste characters), to the terrifying Maha Kola Sanni Yaka (disease demon). The masks are carved from the light, easy-working kaduru wood (Strychnos nux-vomica) — the same tree whose seeds produce strychnine. The defining Ambalangoda technique is the mouth mechanism of the comic character masks: the lower jaw is carved separately and articulated by a string from inside the mask controlled by the dancer's teeth — biting the string opens the mouth. The string-to-jaw calibration — the length and tension that produces the correct degree of mouth opening when the dancer bites — is each workshop's proprietary knowledge.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Sri Lanka national ICH list
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