Carnival of Venice

 Traditions can be found around the world. In Reno, for example, it may be considered a tradition to go to Hot August Nights or the Rib Cook-off. Some of these traditions go back hundreds of years, like Carson Valley Days, while others are relatively new. Venice is well known for their take on Carnivale, which dates back to the thirteenth century and is different from other Carnivale type celebrations because of the famous masks.

The source of the word Carnival is still fairly unknown though it is generally though to derive from the Latin “Carnem Levare” (which means to avoid meat). This was a typical thing people gave up during lent so, the lead up to the event was a long period of feasting and entertainment where one would indulge in what they would say goodbye to.

As time passed, it went from just an all out feast and celebration to adding in some decoration. First was socks. Each district would have their own color combination. In time, this grew to larger and larger spectacles, with the addition of things like fireworks, human pyramids (I’m not kidding on that one either), dances, dove flights and a ropewalk (this ropewalk would be from the top of St. Marks Campanile to the Doge’s palace. Upon his successful journey, the prisoner would present a gift to the doge and be granted his freedom. If unsuccessful, the prisoner would plunge to his death- this walk has been substituted in modern times by the flight of the angel)

Carnival hasn’t always taken place in February or March, however. For a long time, it started when theaters opened in October and that was changed when masks were added to the mix to St. Stephen’s Day (December 26^th) when authorities gave permission to the public to wear masks.

Masks have become the mainstay of Venetian Carnival. They afforded the unique possibility of people from all walks of society, all levels of distinction and status to intermix with one another. This meant a man could, as noted by abbot Marco Marchetti, find himself chatting with the son of a Spanish Ambassador about politics and the Venice Inquisitors. Venetians came to love the festivities so much that it is to never be interrupted. In 1789, Doge Paolo Renier died during the festivities on February 13^th but his death wasn’t announced until March 2^nd after all festivities ceased.

Venice’s famous carnival was put on hiatus, however, in 1797 when Austria gained control of the city, banning all traditions. Though parties would still continue without being called carnival, the unification of Italy in 1861 seemed to kill Carnival until it was revived in 1979. Since then, Carnival has been celebrated every year for 10 days before lent Wednesday with all the glamour and pazaz of the 18^th century.

When we got back from Burano, we found our Carnivale masks and got ourselves ready for a night of Carnivale. I found a mask for more decorative purposes but also searched for a mask for Molly that I would end up using that night.

My roommates also found some good masks

 

As you can tell, Masks come in all shapes and sizes. There are 3 or 4 main types of masks. The first is the Bauta mask. The Bauta mask covers the entire face and has no mouth.

The second would be the Moretta. The moretta mask was typical of women during carnival and was typically made of black velvet in an oval shape.

Next was the Volto or Larva mask, which was the most common mask in venice for many centuries. It typically is the most simple mask but allows the wearer to drink, eat, or converse with relative ease.

With Venice being a big Carnivale town, we anticipated this would be a big night but were wrong. The night was awfully toned down because of the constant rain dampening the fun. The night before, the piazzas were filled with people, Italians were out in full force (some of them remarkably drunk and amazingly forward...), so when we got to the Piazza and there weren’t many people,  we elected to call it a night and get ready for our last day of Venice and our trip to Verona.