As holidays go, Halloween - also known as All Hallows’ or All Saints’ Eve - commands a certain reverence for its pagan aesthetics and guising purpose. Every year, enthusiasts of all ages embrace this opportunity to indulge in sanctioned spookiness and sweets, and to misbehave harmlessly in the costume of their choice. On this autumn night, the chance to wear a disguise is relished. The mask is a key object in this revelry, allowing the wearer to fool onlookers in a delightful act of pretence.

The English word ‘mask’, denoting a covering for all or part of the face, derives from the French ‘masque’ and the Italian maschera, ‘mascara’, which comes from the medieval Latin masca ‘witch, spectre’, with another potential influence in the Arabic maskara ‘buffoon’. These eclectic etymologies suggest the basic face covering has abstract origins in outlandish cosmetics and characters, making the mask no ordinary apparel, but one designed for ornament and artifice.

Humanity has a long history of wearing masks in performance and entertainment. In Ancient Greek theatre, actors wore masks, as they do in the Japanese Noh tradition of dance-drama, originating in the 14th century. In Medieval Europe, masks were worn in the biblical mystery and miracle plays performed by craft gilds, while the Renaissance ushered in the event of the masque, a staged pageant performed at court for the amusement of lords and royals. Masks feature heavily in pre-Lenten carnivals around the world, from the cartoonish German Karneval and Fasching, to the ornate Italian Carnevale di Venezia, to the decadent Mardi Gras in New Orleans. In these festive traditions, masks are crucial in achieving a desired state of liberation, as they offer a reprieve from the strictures of normal identity and appropriate conduct.

Masks are also a key feature of ancient cultures, used in tribal ceremonies and rituals. Masks fashioned from stone, bone, wood and metals have been recovered by archeologists on all seven continents, yet knowledge of the masked activities varies. It is common to a number of sub-Saharan African cultures that carved masks were worn for religious purposes, during ritual dances and events, in which wearers bore a special authority or a perceived spiritual connection to the figure or animal represented by the mask. One of the best-known artifacts from ancient Egypt is the ornate gold mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (1332–1323 BC), found in 1925 in his tomb, suggesting the significance of the funeral mask in early Egyptian culture. According to the Spanish Catholic calendar, the Día de Muertos - Day of the Dead, or All Souls’ Day that follows Halloween - is celebrated in Mexico from November 1st to 2nd, as a continuation of the ancient Aztec celebration of the dead. A common feature of the holiday is the sugar skull masks, called calaveras or calacas, worn by celebrants to honour the departed. Where masks have these ceremonial purposes, they are seemingly infused with a sense of respect for what and whom they represent.

Finally, we wear masks as a form of protection. In many sports where bodies and objects are swung, struck and hurled, and potentially collide with force, masks have been used to guard the face from impact. More nefariously in some criminal instances, masks have been worn to protect the identity of offenders, recalling horror stories and legends that are also the stuff of Halloween indulgence. In harsher cases, masks have been used as punishments for deviant people, creating a symbolic and physical barrier between them and society. A certain operatic phantom springs to mind, with the pitiful lyric recollecting his mask as the ‘first unfeeling scrap of clothing’ used to hide the abnormality of this face. The functionality of the mask, however controversial the circumstance, serves a protective purpose in each case.

More heroically, many occupations throughout history have required workers to wear masks to protect them from the harmful risks of their employment. Their efforts in turn protect everyone from those hazards. Welders, carpenters and builders; scientists and engineers; divers, pilots and astronauts; firefighters and soldiers; and, of course, doctors and nurses. As a society, we rely on brave people to wear masks, so the rest of us have the choice - to liberate, respect and protect ourselves and others with this gesture.

#HappyHalloween #AllHallowsEve #AllSaintsEve #WearAMask #MaskUp