Vejigante Mask
The vejigante mask of Ponce, Puerto Rico, is a carnival face of papier-mâché crowned with horns, given fangs, bulging eyes and brilliant colors, worn by the vejigante, the trickster of the Puerto Rican Carnival who whirls through the crowds chasing children and driving off evil spirits. The tradition fuses the Spanish festival, the word comes from vejiga, 'bladder,' after the dried bladders the first celebrants carried, with African and Taíno elements, and each town gave the figure its own face. Ponce's masks are the most elaborate, built up with wings and bristling horns; in Loíza the vejigan