The Venetian Carnival Mask

The Venetian Carnival Masks is an old tradition held in Venice, Italy. The celebration ends forty days before Easter. The masks are decorated with beads matching in color. they were generally wore to hide the identity and the social status of the user. The masks would allow the wearer to be able to act freely and interact with others without the knowing their identity. Women started to become more revealing with their clothing when wearing masks, even the nuns and monks of the clergy started doing the same acts. Later the wearing of the masks was banned and only able to be worn for a certain time during the year. Carnival masks are usually made of porcelain or paper mache making them either very fragile or heavy. Mainly when making the masks

After the mold was let dry and places into an oven, an artist would take it and make the eyeholes and would place the wax over the mask. There are many different types of Venetian Masks. The first is The Bauta, this mask has a squarish jaw, large chin and no mouth it covers the whole face. These masks are generally worn by men who want to get lost in the crowd and break a few rules. The secondary mask is The Colombiana, this mask is a half-mask and it is heavily decorated, generally worn by women and mainly cover eyes cheeks and sometimes the nose.They are worn by women who are not afraid to express themselves. Last but not least The Pantalone, this mask has sizeable noses that look like a beak and has slanted eyes. This mask is used by the joker of the group, the man that usually starts a conversation, makes friends and tells the funniest jokes. These masks were worn to a Cocktail Party or a Masked Ball. By the eighteenth century the venetian carnival masks where no longer being worn by the venetian people, when venice became part of the Austrian held kingdom of Lombardy Venetia when Napoleon signed the treaty of Campo