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