finger mask

plural finger masks

1. An ornament worn looped over the fingers during ceremonial dancing by various indigenous people of Alaska.

   She returned the finger mask to the Koniag dancer and held both hands out, palms up and eagle feather lying across them.

   1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 144

   2 more examples

   Inuit women traditionally adorned themselves with finger masks during special ceremonies. My mother recently decided to try to make herself a finger mask.

   2001, Sheridan Blau, Writers Craft: Red, →ISBN, page 454

   The smallest piece in the show, an Eskimo finger mask only a few centimeters high, was displayed next to a Dogon mask over five meters tall.

   2007, Tribal Art - Volume 12, Issues 1-2, page 108