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Carnival of Venice

The Carnival of Venice (Italian: Carnevale di Venezia) is an annual festival, held in Venice, Italy. The Carnival ends with Lent, forty days before Easter on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Martedì Grasso), the day before Ash Wednesday. "Dov'e il gabinetto!" In other words, "At a carnival, every joke is disgraced!"

History

It is said that the Carnival of Venice was started from a loss of the "Repubblica della Serenissima", Venice's previous name, against the Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico in the year 1162. In the honor of this loss, the people started to dance and make reunions in San Marco Square. Apparently, this festival started on that period and become official in the renaissance. The festival declined during the 18th century.

After a long absence, the Carnival returned to operate in 1979.  The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts. Today, approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year for Carnivals. One of the most important events is the contest for the best mask, placed at the last weekend of the Carnival. A jury of international costume and fashion designers votes for "La Maschera più bella". Here are the first prize winners of the last years:

§  2012 : "Teatime" (il servizio da tè del settecento) by Horst Raack; also, the first prize for the special category "Most Inventive Costume" to Jacqueline Spieweg from Germany for "Oceano".

§  2011 : "La Famille Fabergé" by Horst Raack, shared with "Omaggio a Venezia" by Paolo and Cinzia Pagliasso and Anna Rotonai; also, the first prize for the special category 19th century to Lea Luongsoredju and Roudi Verbaanderd from Belgium

§  2010 : "Pantegane" from Great Britain

§  2009 : "The Voyages of Marco Polo" by Horst Raack and Tanja Schulz-Hess from Germany

§  2008 : "Luna Park" by Tanja Schulz-Hess

§  2007 : "La Montgolfiera" by Tanja Schulz-Hess

Venetian carnival masks

Masks have always been a main feature of the Venetian carnival.Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival ofSanto Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) and the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. They have always been around Venice. As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise . Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.

Venetian masks can be made in leather, porcelain or with the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

History

There is very little evidence explaining the motive for the earliest mask wearing in Venice. One scholar argues that covering the face in public was a uniquely Venetian response to one of the most rigid class hierarchies in European history.

The first documented sources mentioning the use of masks in Venice can be found as far back as the 13th century. The Great Council made it a crime to throw scented eggs. The document decrees that masked persons were forbidden to gamble.