Masks have been a costume detail in nearly all
cultures, initially as a tool in ancient shamanistic practices invoking the
spirits of animals or gods. In classical Greek theater masks served the purpose
of enabling a vast audience to perceive the qualities of a character from the exaggerated
features, and to hear him better through the aid of the megaphone-like shaping
of the mouth.
Masks as an item of dress for ladies and gentlemen derived
from the annual pre-Lenten carnival in Venice, for they enabled a freedom that
could not be enjoyed if the identity of the wearer was known. This freedom was
so cherished that Venice’s carnival time grew to encompass half the year. The Venetian
leather mask became an art form that is practiced even now.
The long nose of certain Venetian masks, when
stuffed with medicinal wadding was thought to ward off plague. This was laughed
at by the wise of the 20th century who believed plague was spread by
vermin but the latest medical thinking is that the contamination was airborne –
so the medicinal masks may indeed have been somewhat effective.
The Venetian mask returned to the theater as an easy
means of designating the characters of the Commedia dell’ Arte, the popular
street theater that, through its standard stock of characters, lampooned events
of the day. The characters themselves came to be called masks, and a type of
play a “masque.”
But masks have also had a more sinister history. Some Roman gladiators wore elaborate helmets with masks. The
Headsman, doing the dirty work of the State, wore a black hood effectively
masking his features so that in his private life he need not fear retribution
by the friends of those he’d killed.
Strikingly similar to the headman’s hood are the ski
masks of today. Originally devised by Andeans to keep the face warm at cold
high altitudes, the knitted mask moved to sports attire for skiers, and from
there to the costume de rigueur for bank robbers.
And now we see the ski mask adopted by armed men in
the Ukraine. For myself I can say that this is the most chilling use in the evolution
of the mask.
Soldiers in warfare have adopted disguises fairly
rarely, and that most often by stealing uniforms from the bodies of dead members
of the enemy. A vivid example of regular soldiers in irregular costume was in
the French and Indian War (1756-63, the American branch of the Seven Years War
between England and France.)
For one woodland battle, young French officers stripped naked but for a loin cloth and painted themselves with “war paint”, intending to be mistaken for Indians as they attacked the regularly uniformed English and colonist troops. This was astonishing at a time when ladies and gentlemen never disrobed entirely, not even when taking a bath or begetting children. And the pseudo-Indians quite failed to fool their American adversaries.
For one woodland battle, young French officers stripped naked but for a loin cloth and painted themselves with “war paint”, intending to be mistaken for Indians as they attacked the regularly uniformed English and colonist troops. This was astonishing at a time when ladies and gentlemen never disrobed entirely, not even when taking a bath or begetting children. And the pseudo-Indians quite failed to fool their American adversaries.
Today, in the Ukraine, ski masks used to conceal the
faces of men otherwise in full military garb is quite another matter.
In the Crimea it appeared, from news reports, that these were Russian soldiers stripped of all identification of rank and individuality. Such a practice runs so counter to normal military rules that one wonders at the commanding officers. But then, recalling how Russia’s leader has been known to dispatch by clandestine means (including the poisoned tip of an umbrella) those who oppose him, it’s small wonder that Russian officers do as they are told.
In the Crimea it appeared, from news reports, that these were Russian soldiers stripped of all identification of rank and individuality. Such a practice runs so counter to normal military rules that one wonders at the commanding officers. But then, recalling how Russia’s leader has been known to dispatch by clandestine means (including the poisoned tip of an umbrella) those who oppose him, it’s small wonder that Russian officers do as they are told.
And in eastern Ukraine? Last night I saw a BBC correspondent
interview a man in full military outfit (without the mask) who claimed to be an
ordinary citizen who had come to fight for his rights. The guns, we’re told,
came from the police station taken by these protesters.
We are to believe that police stations in the
Ukraine are arsenals that include in their storehouses full military costume complete
with standard black ski masks. And so it may be.
Militarized citizens have been known to wear ski masks. Some of the practitioners of tribal genocide in Rwanda felt the need to hide their
faces under ski masks to avoid being recognized by the neighbors they were slaughtering.
What does this concealment mean? We’ve seen
uprisings in recent years all over the world. Rarely have
protesting citizens sought to conceal their identity. On the contrary, proud to
be taking part in their cause, they’ve let themselves be seen and identified
even though it might (and has) cost them their lives.
The mask not only blocks identification, but, as in
Rwanda, allows the wearer to feel a freedom from responsibility that is
dangerous in the extreme.
What we're witnessing in the Ukraine seems to be unfolding as an
elaborate and systematized deception. The masked troops who seized the Crimea
appear to have been regular Russian soldiers. But were they? By supplying protesting
Ukrainian citizens with the same costume, identification of direct action by Russian
troops is made more questionable.
Whatever the purpose, the use of masks by the
military is the worst development in the long history of masks. One fears its
use will spread, and with it the worst activities mankind can commit when freed
from identification, responsibility and inhibition.
http://www.amazon.com/Katherine-Ashe/e/B004OTWHNQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1403480789&sr=1-2-ent
book website: www.simon-de-montfort.com
personal website: www.katherineashe.com
Katherine Ashe is the author of the Montfort series, a four-volume novelized biography of Simon de Montfort, the founder of modern democracy:
book website: www.simon-de-montfort.com
personal website: www.katherineashe.com
