In ancient times, as found by archeologists and anthropologists, masks and dressing ups were particularly used as part of various rituals, expressing pagan religious ideas. It must be remembered, though, that such ideas had always had practical purposes. A very ancient picture was found painted on a wall at the "Three Brothers" cave in France, dating from 32,000 years before the present. In it, a man appears in the whole-body guise of a deer-like animal with horns. That guise is assumed to have belonged to a shaman, enabling the wearer to reach the world of spirits; in prehistoric times, humans shared the world with animals, and the mask expresses such an idea; appearing in that shape was supposed to enhance the shaman's power of magic.
"Primitive" hunters used to wear the appearance of the animals they were chasing; such a mask identified its wearer with his prey, making it easier for him to approach it in its own environment and thus to kill it; such identification helped the human to atone for the killing of his prey, which like him had a right to exist in nature. Many and various forms of masks were used in the ritual of hunting, before and after that action. An Eskimo mask from Alaska, made up of wood and feathers, was used in the fishing of salmon and represented that fish's soul; the purpose of that mask was to enhance the control of the body and soul of the hunted fish. Another hunting mask of the same area was made in the shape of a wale. The Alaska Eskimo wore masks presenting mixed creatures of human and animals, in the way the deer-man was. Among the natives of north-west America, who are ethnically close to the Eskimo, it is possible to find inside an animal's head a mask with human face; such artifact symbolizes the human soul inside of the body of the animal, thus showing humans as belonging to the animal world.
Not all animal masks in the "primitive" world were used in hunting. In many places masks and disguises of animals were used in various rituals connected with that animal's particular character. In the Pacific islands, many different disguises were found: body masks made of grass with strange birds' faces, for instance, and various mourning masks in the figures of fish with huge mouths, many teeth and large ears. A Chinese bronze mask symbolizes the spirit of the leopard protecting a human who is seen inside its mouth. People in wolf dress took part in a protecting ritual done by natives of North America, and it is assumed that the mask expressed the spirit of the animal not for hunting purposes but for assuming some of its characters, like strength or loyalty.
Human masks have been and still are used for the purpose of raising the spirits of ancestors, inviting them to come and talk to the present generation. The wearing of human masks may have been developed from the custom of shrinking the heads of the dead for the purposes of protection and of prophesying. Many rituals in countries very far apart, like Alaska, Malaysia, Congo, Mexico and Canada, included dancing of the spirits of ancestors wearing masks in scull shape, to protect the living tribe members.
Many masks were used for other ritualistic purposes like rainmaking, healing, and the removal of demons and evil spirits; such masks frequently appeared like various demons or divinities. In an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic picture various deities are seen with human bodies and their particular animal heads: the jackal symbolized Anubis, god of Death or Burial; the crocodile was Amith, goddess of the Nile; Thoth, god of Wisdom, wore the image of the ibis; and the young Sun god Horus was a falcon.
