The History Of The Venetian Mask

T he history of the Venetian       which functioned smoothly and      Mask is one which sounds as     well and this meant that the       though it stems from            citizens of the Venetian Republic  fairytale or legend but which         were wealthy and successful. This  goes to show that sometimes truth     wealth, luxury and extravagance,   is stranger than fiction.             coupled with the beauty of the                                           state, made the Republic very      Way back in the 13th Century,         appealing to the rest of the       Venice was more than just a small     world.                             city in Italy. It was a very                                             important part of Italy and was       It was this wealth that was to     known by the name of the Venetian     bring about the tradition of the   Republic. This Republic was           Venetian mask. Over time, the      small, with a population in the       citizens of the Venetian Republic  region of 150,000 people.             began to realise that if they      Nonetheless, the Republic had a       concealed their identity they      very successful trade, which was      became able to carry out their     ship building, and was able to        daily lives in secrecy and         produce one battleship in as          without fear of retribution. With  little as thirty days. This was a     so much personal wealth in the     very fast turnaround, made            state, people often found          possible by the fact that the         themselves making deals and        shipyards employed 15,000 of the      agreements with other citizens     local residents, a staggering ten     outside of the eyes of the law.    per cent of the state's overall       With the population as small as    population. In addition to the        it was, many wanted to carry out   shipyards, the Venetian Republic      such deals as these without other  required workforces in all other      people knowing their business,     aspects of daily life. The            and so the wearing of a mask       Republic was a well oiled machine     became popular.                                                          advantage of the concealment of    Once people began to see others       their identity and to benefit      wearing masks, it became apparent     from their anonymity. Knowing      that they could hold additional       that there were to be no           benefits. When wearing a mask         repercussions of their actions,    your identity is concealed and so     as no-one could be identified,     your social status is not known       the society began to behave more   to others. This allowed servants      lavishly and without fear. As a    and business owners to be treated     busy city with travellers and      equally and prevented any form of     business visitors descending upon  inequality or prejudice. It also      them daily, sexual promiscuity     allowed all of the citizens of        became common place and gambling   the Republic to have their say on     was known to be occurring all      matters which were important to       through the day and the night,     them, allowing them to remain         all over the city. In fact,        anonymous in the process. This        gambling was even occurring in     was mutually beneficial to both       convents and was undertaken by     the citizens and officials            men, women and even children.      visiting the city, who were able      Homosexuality was starting to      to receive honest answers to          spread throughout the Republic     their questions from the whole        and was not condemned there as it  spectrum of residents. Soon, all      was in the rest of the country.    of the city's residents were          Women were able to flaunt their    wearing masks to go about their       sexuality in revealing clothing    daily lives.                          and engaged in promiscuous                                               behaviour. Even those who had      This mutual benefit for all of        taken religious vows, such as      wearing masks was not to last         monks and nuns, were undertaking   long though. It did not take long     the same activities as the rest    for people to start to take           of the population, wearing         fashionable outfits, gambling and     finally reached to ban the         prostituting themselves.              wearing of masks throughout the                                          majority of the year, only         The capital of Italy, Rome, knew      permitting it in a three month     about the activities which were       period from the 26th December      occurring in the Venetian             onwards. Over time this has been   Republic but for some time chose      gradually lessened and is now      to ignore them as long as the         more commonly associated with      Republic was continuing to make       week long festivities known as     regular and substantial financial     Carnevale, or Mardi Gras.          deposits. However, a decision was      About the Author: Steve's hobby is collecting Venetian Masks and information about them, you can see his masks at his site www.venetian-masks.org Source: www.isnare.com