Easter/Lent Mask-Making

Thanks to Heart of the Beast Theater for sharing this Great Idea!

Heart of the Beast has been partnering with St Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis to provide families a chance to make masks for their Lent observances and Easter celebrations.

There are so many ways masks could develop ideas of resurrection!

Invite folx to make masks specific to the characters present in each of the different resurrection stories. Share a different resurrection story each Sunday in the Season of Easter. Utilize the masks to both tell each story and explore:

• different characters: How does each experience resurrection? Let the masks display different situations or responses to New Life
• different emotions: as news of the resurrection spreads, what emotions are present on the masks? How does this help us understand the evolution of ideas around Jesus’ resurrection – especially relative to our own?
• different experiences: let masks reflect different settings, realities (what are the various situations into which the risen Christ becomes present?),  responses. What nuances and different interpretations are evoked – within the stories, and by mask creators as they wonder about New Life?

This activity is acc intergenerational activity. It can use simple elements like cardboard and newspaper, or you could use found-objects and make the masks multimedia.

Let mask-making be about Bible study, relationship-building, worship preparation, and contemplative practice.

Use the masks in worship, then burn them (if environmentally safe) or otherwise dispose of them as a practice of letting go of control or clinging – both of which feature heavily in our resurrection stories!

Adaptable to many seasons of the Church year!!

 

This could be a powerful way to explore