The Silent Mask

Carnival is a very popular holiday in Italy that takes place before Lent. People in rural areas of central Italy wait for this time all year to parade costumes and papier-mâché sculptures throughout the four-day parade. They celebrate with dancing, singing and offerings of food and wine in each village, sporting all kinds of costumes. They build a giant puppet called "puccio" in the center of each square, symbolizing the soul of the carnival and its triviality. When the festivity ends, the puppet is set on fire as it was done in medieval times. The costumes of the Italian carnival are greatly influenced by the "commedia dell'arte," taking the people back to certain ancestral traditions that are part of pagan culture on the one hand, and to the earliest forms of theatrical expression in the Middle Ages on the other.