Tres dimensiones de la máscara ritual chané

The article develops an anthropological explanation of the ritual masks of the Chané indians of Argentina. The masked dancers appear during the annual arete celebration. The cultural meaning of these masks, however, must be pursued beyond their ritual performance, relating it to several symbolic contexts, as a) the ritual practices involving the sacred nature of the materials in which masks are made; b) the beliefs concerning the native notions of death, soul, and person; and c) the relation between the cosmological myths, the peculiar behaviour of the masked dancers, the mask destruction, and the social representation of time. [South American Indians, Guaraní, Chiriguano, Chané, ritual performance, arete, mask, myth].