saxelovnebo mecnierebaTa Ziebani #4 (53), 2012 ART SCIENCE ...

season of the year.The subject of this paper is the artistic forms of the masksused in those rituals, as well as their development from ancienttime to present day.This article provides described typological characteristicsof the masks according to the region, image, and mask material.Examples of material-wise typology are sheep- or goat skin-,animal’s skull- (sometimes used as headgear), weavingmasks made of rough tissue, pumpkin-, bark-, cardboardor paper masks. Examples of mage-wise typology includeanthropomorphous and zoomorphic masks. The first categoryfeatures the masks with human traits, while the second one –those with recognizable traits of sheep, goats, bull, pork andother animals.Ritual masks are one of essential components of theBerikaoba-Qeinoba festivity, whose study reveals many noteworthyfacets. This paper puts the Georgian ritual masks toa comparative analysis, viewing as parallel field materialcharacteristics of the masks used in the South Cuacasus, amongthe Greeks of the Tsalka district of Georgia, and by the Basks ofthe Iberian Peninsula for similar ritual purposes.269