Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Masks
No one knows exactly when, how, or why Venetians began to wear masks in public.
Some historians attribute the origin of masquerade celebrations to festivities sur-
rounding the Venetian Republic's conquest of lands in the eastern Mediterranean,
but there is little evidence to help us understand the original motivations behind this curious
tradition.
The earliest accounts of Venetian masks are laws stating what Venetians could
not
do
while wearing one. A law of 1268 forbade masked people from playing certain games.
Another thirteenth-century law prohibited masked people from gambling. In 1339, the Re-
public's lawmakers specifically outlawed vulgar disguises and visiting convents while wear-
ing a mask. As is the case with all laws, we can only assume that they existed because people
were doing whatever was forbidden.
During the Middle Ages, Venetian mask makers (singular
mascarer
or plural
mascareri
)
were organized into guilds or
arti
. Their statutes, recorded in 1436, placed mask makers un-
der the same regulations as painters. The statutes set forth strict rules about the education
and advancement of apprentices and journeymen, and stipulated the conditions under which
masks could be produced and sold in the city.
From these medieval accounts, we learn that masks were associated with Venetian Carni-
val. Carnival is a traditional annual festival in Catholic countries that takes place during the
ten days leading up to Lent. Lent being a time of abstinence (the origin of the word
carni-
val
is thought to connote “relief from meat”), the days leading up to it entailed the oppos-
ite: overindulgence in food, drink, and merry-making. The city held its first Carnival in the
eleventh century. Carnival celebrations extended through the city streets and squares, with
dancers, acrobats, jesters, and other street entertainers. This free-for-all celebration included
parades, balls, practical jokes, street music, and general revelry.
Under the laws of the Republic, Venetians were allowed to wear masks starting with
Santo Stefano on December 26 and leading up to the beginning of Carnival on Shrove Tues-
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