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Abstract(s)
A mask functions simultaneously to conceal a person’s face / identity and reveal, evoke, or create another one. The mask represents, but it mainly transforms. It affirms and denies; it is a presence and an absence. A mask (re)presents and conceals the masked. Putting on a mask is a metamorphose; it transforms how a person becomes visible/invisible. This transformation fascinates and disturbs: it alters (the appearance) what is unalterable (what it is) and leads to misunderstanding and deception. But what becomes (“appears”) something else does not cease to be what it is. Putting on a mask produces a physical (a new “face”) and semantical (new meanings, a re-semantization) transformation. The mask has been used since the dawn of humanity for various realms and functions. As a cultural and artistic element, the Carnival mask is a characterizing component. The so-called caretos’ scary-looking wooden masks from Lazarim (Portugal) use them to impress and affect the pathos, in addition to assigning identity (ethos) to collective life and anonymity to the masked. Following a theoretical-conceptual approach and a semiotic perspective, this chapter explores the meaning structures supporting the masks as idiosyncratic signs in cultural rituals and as a way of representation and transformation.
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Keywords
caretos of Lazarim Carnival mask semiotics sign
Citation
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan