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Discovering
the Island
Main Attractions Edition
The first scratch map of Sardinia, you will discover 40 attractions of the Island. Each of them will make you know more local elements.
18 - MASCHERE E
CARNEVALI
In Sardinia the mask is biunivocally linked to the traditional carnival (Carrasecare), an event which is particularly felt and which embodies mystical, cultural, mythological and allegorical moments.
The Sardinian carnival, in its most traditional dress, is particularly felt in the areas of Nuoro and Barbagia; in all their peculiarities, for specific locations, they preserve the common sense of expression of the lived society and a close relationship with nature. The various propitiatory rites that characterize them bear witness to this.
The masks are therefore the symbol and the means to relive now ancestral contexts. There are many places that still today give prestige to this tradition, and each of them has completely different connotations.
OTTANA
Boes: mask made of sheepskins and cowbells.
Merdules: black mask covering the man's face.
These two masks represent the ox and its master respectively. They symbolize a privileged condition in ancient society, in fact owning oxen meant a condition of well-being. They are considered the masks of hospitality par excellence, in fact it is not recommended to the guest to refuse a glass of local wine in order not to unleash their anger.
Filonzana: mask representing an old hump dressed in black.
MAMOIADA
Mamuthones: costume consisting of black mask, hat, heavy cowbells, black sheepskin.
Issohadores: costume composed of white mask hat, red jacket, white pants and shirt, rattles, rope.
These masks interact with each other because the Issohadores have the task of keeping good Mamuthones, who are precisely escorted. With the rope the Issohadores try to capture the girls (as a symbol of fertility) or the local authorities; in the past they tried to capture the landowners symbolically as a symbol of luck.
AUSTIS
S'Urtzu: costume made of boarskin, representing the sacrificial victim of the ritual.
Sos Colonganos: costume composed of fox or turtledove skin, animal bones, black jacket and trousers. In their dance they stage the hunt and oppression towards S'Urtzu.
LULA
Su Battileddu: costume composed of sheepskin, cowbells, horns, in addition the interpreter has a black and bloodstained face to most likely represent the maccabra figure of Dionysus. Around this figure move other masks that try to kill in their dances Su Battileddu, until they succeed and bring him on a cart through the streets of the village.
Other traditional Sardinian masks and carnivals worthy of mention are the following:
- FONNI: Urthos and Buttudos;
- SAMUGHEO: Mamutzones;
- AIDOMAGGIORE: Maschera a Lenzolu ;
- ORANI: Su Bundu.
Today the masks are also reproduced, generally in wood, by local craftsmen to be marketed in their most artistic forms.
