source: Smithsonianmag.com
Jan. - Feb. 2025 issue pages 68 - 79
A winter festival in Sardinia;
a parade with mask-wearing
representatives.
An annual winter tradition in
Mamoiada, Italy (pop. 2,300)
in the heart of the island of
Sardinia which is 175 miles
away from the mainland.
"It's serious and in some ways
a sad carnival" - first took place
in A.D. 1094 but may have
consolidated a number of older
pagan roots like the Roman
Empire's Saturnalia where
ancestors of today's Italians
drank and indulged and turned
the social order upside down. . .
The most popular materials for
Mamuthone masks are alder,
olive wood, cherry wood. . .
The festival starts on the eve
of January 17 (feast day for
St. Anthony the Abbot who
lived up to age 105); this area is
also notable as a "Blue Zone".
Italy has a tradition "Carnival
Season" and those dressed to
perform as Mamuthones do so
on Sunday before Lent and the
eve of Lent (known many places
as Mardi Gras / "Fat Tuesday").
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