Masks have long been integral to the religious and societal life of what is now Latin American and the Caribbean. Fossil evidence suggests that a vertebra from a species of llama that once lived in Mexico was fashioned into a masks for unknown ritual purposes some time between 12,000-10,000 BC. Miniature clay masks have been found in Tlapacoya, Mexico from 1400-1200 BC, and stone masks were used in conjunction burials and cremation rituals in the Olmec culture of 1200-900 BC and in many of the succeeding cultures of both Meso-America and the Andean Highlands. In Meso-America these stone masks range stylistically from the simplified image of the generic human face in the masks of Teotihuacan (300-600 AD) to elaborate and highly individualized jade masks of the Maya and the turquoise mosaic elaboration of skulls among the Toltec and Aztec peoples, while in the Andes beaten gold and copper were frequently used in the graves of prominent men in the Moche, Chimu, and Incan cultures.

Masks were worn by the living as well as gracing the graves and mortuary bundles of the dead in the complex theocentric societies of Meso-America. Narrative paintings, statuary, and the reports of the Spanish conquerors all bear witness to an extensive tradition of masks affixed to effigies of gods and worn by priests, rulers, and sacrificial victims-investing their wearers with the aura, mystery, and authority of the supernatural while combining political and religious signification. Some of these masks seem to have had curative or apotropaic powers; others gave form to deities based on powerful and dangerous natural forces: Tlaloc, the rain god, Ehecatl, the god of wind, Yezcotlipoca, the night god. Animal masks were featured in agricultural ceremonies, as well as in combat. A wooden half-jaguar, half human mask found in Mexico dates from 1000 BC, and the idea of an animal spirit double to the human persona is a recurring one in Meso-American masking; human, animal and supernatural qualities are sometimes depicted as co-existing in a laminated construct of person.

Masks representing the human face are also of considerable antiquity in Central and South America. A widespread tradition of using masks to represent surprisingly lively old men is found in both the highlands and in Mexico, where it may have been associated with the fire god, Huehueteotl, who took the form of an old man in rites of renewal featuring the extinguishing of old flames and the starting of new ones. Masked clowns presenting images of anti-social behavior are also common in Mexican usage, and anthropomorphic masks were used in pre-Columbian Mayan theatre. When the Spanish conquered the Aztec and Incan empires, the Catholic Church sought to suppress the indigenous religions while at the same building upon the rich tradition of masked performances to inculcate new beliefs. Masked dramas celebrating the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the defeat of the Islamic forces by the Spanish, and the conquest of the New World itself were imported from Spain, along with celebrations of the Christmas season, Carnival, and All Saints Day. The result has been a highly syncretic use of masks by the diverse Native American and Mestizo populations in performances that constitute a set of complex negotiations between enduring pre-Columbian traditions and the newly entrenched Catholic faith.

Thus, Meso-American and Andean deities are often conflated with Catholic saints. Spanish and Austrian influences mix freely with pre-Christian iconography. Devils become elaborated with animal imagery once associated with fertility and are reintegrated into the social structure, as in the Michoacan Pastorela or serve as the center piece of Carnival processions, as in the Diablado of Oruro, Bolivia or of Independence Day celebrations, as in Teloloapan, in the Guerrero Province Mexico. Day of the Dead festivities merge All Saints Day traditions with older preoccupations with and imagery for death. Attitudes towards the defeated Moors take on new complexity as parallels are made with the Conquest of the New World, as in the haunting masked performances of Guatemala. Hunted jaguars acquire new layers of Christian symbolism and Easter pageants become linked again to fertility rituals and the cycles of the Sun. The dance of the Old Ones, The Viejitos, becomes a celebratory link between ancestral and Christian epistemes, while comic masks mock European dandies, familiarize Christian monks, and celebrate rambunctious and satiric play. Masks, then, become vehicles for adapting Christian traditions to pre-Hispanic beliefs and customs, preserving continuities even while acknowledging epochal change. Now, as before, masks are often linked to a sacrifice of the individual's time and person for the benefit of the community and to acknowledge the power of the supernatural, as participation in masked processions and dramas is often determined by a vow (manda) made for the health of family members or to seek blessings for communal prosperity.

Perhaps the greatest measure of syncretism takes place in the Caribbean Islands, where a history of conquest, slave trade, and imported labor has created a multi-racial and multi-cultural society in which African masquerades, European pre-Lenten processions, Native American precedents, and Shi'ite commemorations of Husain and Hasan have generated new traditions of masking through their mutual interactions. Carnival, Jankonnu, and Hosay celebrations are celebrated by those of many faiths and ethnic histories, mediating external and internal influences within a festival atmosphere.

Quite different from these highly syncretic traditions are the performances with masks made of feathers, fiber, and barkcloth by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon River and its tributaries in Brazil and Eastern Colombia. Living in isolation until very recently, these peoples have maintained local traditions of masked transformation in rituals attending death, encouraging fertility and celebrating victories. Now fighting for survival, their traditions add considerably to the cultural richness of the New World.