Knitted protective helmet/mask in light fawn wool, with brown wool pattern on each cheek, and surrounding eye and nose slits. Mouth hole outlined in red wool. Knitted tassel with knotted end on top of crown.
This balaclava is from Peru. These type of balaclavas are used as protection against stones thrown by sling-shots in ritual battles called tinku, which would happen between opposing villages. The idea is to fight until enough blood has been spilled as an offering to the earth. The offering of blood in this way is part of a very complex cosmological process of continuing fertility.
