Papers by Johannes Gasser
Ultimate Reality and Meaning, 1985
For most of us, the mask is basically a toy or an artefact that belongs to a museum. If the man i... more For most of us, the mask is basically a toy or an artefact that belongs to a museum. If the man in the street has not worn his mask at the last carnival festival, he will not forget to wear it for the holdup of a postal train, or to enter into a highly toxic zone like, for instance, the 'Place de l'Etoile' in Paris, or a contaminated nuclear centre (e.g. Three Mile Island). Aside from these particular circumstances, people in the 20th century live proudly without a mask, holding high their culture and civilization. Whether he/she works, sleeps, eats, celebrates or drags his/her friends into bars or churches, the normal man blinded with individual liberty, has thrown away all masks. The mask was employed by men on all continents from the beginning of history. It is a phenomenon of culture, cult, rite, religion and magic. It was used during initiations and during practices such as witchcraft and was manipulated by secret associations. A drawing at Tejat, France, dated from the paleolithic era shows hunting-masked-dancers (Behn, 1955, table 11). From the oldest times, ancient Greece has deployed all sorts of masks: the cult of Dionysius, classical theater, and later on the Roman and Renaissance theater. There is a strong possibility that the word 'Mask' comes from the arabic word mash,arah 'mockery, buffoonery, foolery,' which gave the Italian word 'maschera'. It was during the seventeenth and eigtheenth century that masks were used in the 'commedia dell arte'. Since then, the expression 'mask' is associated with the idea of frivolity, amusement, and also falsehood as a wrong or false face. Nowadays masks are left with carnivals or seasonal ceremonies for instance in South America, Switzerland, and other European countries. Central and western Africa have basically kept the living spontaneity of the mask in its cultural and animistic signification (
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Papers by Johannes Gasser