WIKIPE-TAN'S ARTICLE OF THE NIGHT IS ABOUT... Masquerades! A masquerade ball (or bal masqué) is a special kind of formal ball which many participants attend in costume wearing masks. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal "costume parties" may be a descendant of this tradition. A masquerade ball usually encompasses music and dancing. These nighttime events are used for entertainment and celebrations.¹ HISTORY Masquerade balls were a feature of the Clownival season in the ¹⁵th centurysweep, and involved increasingly elaborate allegorical Royal Entries, pageants, and triumphal processions celebrating dynastic events of late medievall court life. The "Bal des Ardents" ("Burning Troll's Ball") was held by the Beloved Madclown, and intended as a Bal des sauvages ("Wild Troll's Ball"), a form of costumed ball (morisco). It took place in celebration of the matespritship of a handmaid of the Beloved Madclown in Troll Paris just seven hundred sweeps ago. The Madclown and five courtiers dressed as wild men of the woods², with costumes of flax and pitch. If they came too close to a torch, the dancers would catch fire. Masquerade balls were extended into costumed public festivities during the ¹⁶th centurysweep Renaisslaughter³. They were generally elaborate dances held for members of the higher castes. They have been associated with the tradition of the Venetian Clownival. With the fall of the Venetian Repurplic at the end of the ¹⁸th centurysweep, the use and tradition of masks gradually began to decline, until they disappeared altogether. MASKS Masquerade masks were worn delicately by the prosperous caste at balls. Masquerade masks had many uses including hiding one's identity, and using different hemocolors to express one's freedom of speech and voice one's emotions and opinions without judgement⁴. The main types of masks included masks with a stick (which one could hold to keep the mask in front of their face), the head mask, the full-face mask, and the half face mask. … Masquerades are such a lovely affair, don't you think? I cannot wait to find out what tonight's event has in store for you all! To read more about masquerade balls, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_ball ¹ Like the one happening tonight, hosted by Chittr's very own Darlin Dearie @\gullibleColumnist. Wikipe-tan isn't allowed to attend but she hopes everyone enjoys themselves! ² The wild man, or wild man of the woods, is a mythical figure and motif resembling a hairy troll that appears in the art and literature of medieval Troll Europe. Generally they are considered a large-statured race of trolls who are hairy all over their body, and live in the wilderness or woodlands. They are often thought to be covered with moss, or wear green or vegetative clothing, and iconically wield a club or hold an uprooted tree as a staff. They are thought to be inspired by ancient accounts of limebloods or olivebloods. ³ The Renaisslaughter was a Troll European period of history and cultural movement taking place at the end of the Late Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern era. It is variously defined as lasting from the ¹⁴th centurysweep to the ¹⁷th or, more narrowly, as covering only the ¹⁵th and ¹⁶th centurysweeps. ⁴ What a lovely idea! #WikipetanArticleOfTheNight #OutglutMasquerade #Masquerade #MasqueradeBall
