“Salzburg Perchten”

The mask represents the head of a horned animal with a long, pointy beak and thorn-like teeth; the lower half of the beak is articulated. Small hands are attached in front of the wing-shaped ears. Perchten roam the villages during the so-called ‘Rauhnächte’ period, i.e. the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany on January 6, in order to chase away the “evils and darkness”.