Masks... An Ancient Tradition

Masks: An Ancient Tradition





The stuff of legend and rite...



Masks are universal symbols of myth and magic that continue to evoke and express our deepest yearnings. It is said that they speak to the shadow in our soul.

Indeed we 'wear' masks most of the time - our image at work, our role as spouse, and our parental persona. None of these is entirely who we are, and yet they all are a piece of the picture. Each of us is a composite of 'faces' we present to the world according to the given situation.

Our daily 'masks' serve as a shell, protecting us from 'baring our soul' to all and sundry, and saving others from dealing with our complex issues... But there are limits to how we can alter our physicality.

Clothes help, but a mask enables us to hide our familiar face and, replace it with something radically, painlessly, and most important: temporarily different.

Since prehistoric times, all cultures have used masks for ritual disguise and facial protection.
For example:

• In order to make a charm work, a shaman or priest would shake off his corporeal existence by concealing his identity. Since the soul was believed to reside in the face, erasing the countenance granted admission to a god-spirit. Via his designated mask, the god would 'possess' the wearer.
  

• In hunting ceremonies, the medicine man used a mask to represent the animal god, enabling the entire tribe to participate in the hunt and honor the spirit of the slain beast.
  

• Similarly a warrior would wear a demonic mask, in order to terrify his enemy as well as protect his face. As most early cultures hadmultiple gods there were as many masks as deities.

As civilizations evolved and multiplied, so did masks.

Their awesome aspect, a living reality for early man, gradually assumed more symbolic and playful aspects, while retaining elements of allegory and morality.

For example:

• The uniform masks of Greek theater gave all the characters identical countenance, requiring them to create their individuality through voice and movement.
  

• The characters of the Italian Commedia D'ell Arte - Harlequin, Columbine and so forth - were fabricated personality archetypes representing the vices and virtues of mankind acted out in morality plays and sideshow routines of medieval times.

Carnivals also feature masks.

These events traditionally served as safety valves providing a break from the drudge of everyday life.

Occurring before key dates in religious calendars they allowed for a short intense period of revelry when positions and values in society were suspended or reversed. Example; Mardi Gras is a last fling for Christians before the austerities of Lent.

Masks help create a fantasy persona that would normally not be allowed to surface and at Carnival it's world upside down: king for a day and (or!) whore for a night.

This release is recognized as necessary by psychiatrists who use mask therapy to loosen the severe inhibitions of clinically withdrawn or depressed patients.

The key word is 'transformation.'

Taking on the spirit represented by the mask enables the wearer to experience the worlds of the supernatural, the glamorous, the bizarre, and the fantastic.

The fact that every culture on the planet has a mask tradition suggests that fantasy is a necessary component of the human condition, and that each of us holds within ourselves a piece of the Divine.

Thus masks remain as popular as ever, providing bursts of myth, magic and mystery to the increasing logic, drudge and pressure of our lives.

What mask are you wearing right now?

A topic for another time...

Welcome to Maskervillage!