Nepal · Mask Making / Religious Craft
नकाब बनाउने (Nakab Banaune)
Beyond the terracotta Indra Jatra masks of Thimi (CRAFT-0549), the Kathmandu Valley produces a separate tradition of painted papier-mâché and metal masks for Dasain and other major festivals — particularly the Mahakali (fierce goddess) masks worn during the Kumari dance and the Mahakali procession. These paper-and-cloth masks are built over clay forms, layered with paper and glue, then removed from the mold, painted, and given applied metal ornaments. The critical technical knowledge is the mold release clay: the clay base form must be built from a specific low-shrinkage clay that is coated with a thin layer of ash before papering — the ash prevents adhesion between clay and paper. If the ash layer is too thin, paper sticks to clay and tears on removal; if too thick, ash falls into the paper layers creating weak spots.
Risk level: Endangered · Nepal national ICH list; festival context well documented
Tankha metal thread embroidery is Nepal's tradition of producing Buddhist ceremonial textiles using gold and silver metal thread couched onto silk backgrounds — producing altar coverings, ceremonial bags, and the decorative textile borders…
The Gurung people of Lamjung and Gorkha districts in central Nepal maintain a distinctive double tradition: a wool and cotton pattern weaving tradition and a lokta paper dyeing practice used for ceremonial packaging and religious offerings.
The bansuri (बाँसुरी) is Nepal and India's primary classical bamboo flute — a side-blown transverse flute made from a single bamboo culm with 6 or 7 finger holes.
Maithili embroidery encompasses two distinct traditions of the Mithila cultural zone of Nepal's southern Terai: sujani (quilted narrative embroidery) and godna (body tattoo-inspired embroidery).
The extraction, spinning, and weaving of fiber from the Himalayan giant nettle (Girardinia diversifolia), locally called allo, into cloth, cordage, and functional objects — a wild-harvested fiber tradition distinct in raw material and…
The forging of the khukuri (kukri) — Nepal's iconic curved single-edged blade, internationally recognized through its association with Gurkha soldiers and, per Nepali blacksmiths themselves, described as the world's most famous knife.
The making of warrior costumes, ceremonial swords, jewelry, and musical instruments used in the Sebeïba, an annual Tuareg ritual dance-and-song competition held in the oasis of Djanet in Algeria's Tassili n'Ajjer region, coinciding with…
The hand-carving and papier-mâché construction of festival masks in Masaya's Indigenous Monimbó district, made from paper or from jícaro (calabash gourd) and worn during two annual processions honoring the city's patron saint, San…
The making of devil masks and full dance costumes for the diablada, the signature dance of Puno's Festividad de la Virgen de la Candelaria — a February festival syncretizing Catholic devotion with Aymara and Quechua Andean cosmology, in…
The Abelam people of the East Sepik Province produce the nggwalndu — an extraordinary combination of woven fiber mask face and painted fiber conical superstructure that can reach 3-4 meters in height.
Tsam (цам) is the Mongolian Buddhist masked ritual dance tradition performed at monasteries — the Mongolian expression of the Cham masked dance found across the Himalayan Buddhist world.
The Volendam traditional costume embroidery tradition — the making and maintenance of the Volendam klederdracht (folk costume) whose distinctive red, white, and black palette and the specific goldwork and silk embroidery on the bodice and…