Blue Moon
Darren Joseph
Coast Salish
Red cedar, cedar bark, paint
20" dia. x 4"
$3400mask show 2024

Blue Moon Mask 

Darren Joseph
Coast Salish

Red cedar, cedar bark, paint
20" dia. x 4"

$3400

The Moon was born to a woman with four sisters and their blind grandmother. The birth was celebrated with an enormous festival of feasts and games that lasted many days. Athletes from all over came to participate.

The sisters attended the celebrations every day from dusk till dawn and left Moon with their grandmother who cared for the infant all day. When the child stopped crying, she would feel with her hands to be sure Moon was still there. When Moon was crying, she would sing a special lullaby that would put the baby to sleep. One day, Moon wasn’t crying and great-grandmother discovered the baby had been kidnapped and taken to the underground world. All the athletes came together with Blue Jay and went down to bring Moon back. Moon’s experience in the underground created an affection for the dark, so when the fully grown Moon returned, there was much fanfare, but Moon decided to live in the night sky with his great-grandmother for the rest of time.