A paper celebration: Carnevale in Italy

Carnevale is pronounced: Kar-nay-val-ay

Carnevale celebrates the end of winter and the approaching spring season. It is one of Italy’s biggest festivals. Venice hosts the most famous Carnevale celebration.  Carnevale is a Catholic ritual that occurs between the Epiphany and ends before Ash Wednesday.

           

Carnevale consists of public celebrations, parties and parades. Children and adults dress up in traditional and elaborate costumes and carefully handcrafted masks. Each town in Italy host a parade consisting of elaborate floats and bands.

My school (where I teach) hosts an annual event called, “Heritage Day”, where each class represents a country’s historic, architectural, natural and scenic heritage. Each class presents a country in a unique manner. Some classes’ present static displays while others will choose to host teaching demonstrations or a dance pertaining to their country.

Heritage Day Display:

Display 

Mask display

Heritage Day is designed to help students maintain and acquire a Heritage Language.  The goal of Heritage Day is to strengthen the child’s comprehension and expressive ability in a culture.      

            This year my student’s will be representing Italy. We will highlight Italy’s biggest celebration: Carnevale. The majority of my students and myself share an Italian background. As a class, we studied in depth: “What is the meaning of Carnevale? ” and “What are certain traditions associated with Carnevale”.  We also examined why Italian’s wear masks (maschera) to celebrate during the festivities. In fact masks allowed people to enjoy the festivities without being concerned about where they ranked on a social septum. Masks created a sense of equality amongst people. It became a way to break down social barriers amongst everyone. It created dialogue between the rich and the poor.

Naturally masks can be made in leather or with papier-mâché. I thought it would be interesting and engaging for students to create their own masks made from papier-mâché. Students really enjoyed this activity. It allowed them to express themselves in a unique way.

            The activity allowed students to connect with their ethnic Italian background.  For Heritage Day students demonstrated how to make Venetian masks and held a cooking demonstration of how to make a tradition Carnevale dessert called Farfalle or also known as Bow Ties.  Being that the majority of my students have an Italian background it allowed them to connect to their ancestor’s roots. Behind each bright smile shined a sense of pride an honor to represent their family’s native country.

How to create a mold of a mask:

            For this art project I needed to invent a fast and effective method of capturing the correct shape of a mask. This would insure that every student would have a uniform mask. The fact that papier-mâché takes many layers and hours of drying time made it difficult to think of the best way to create a mask shape in a short amount of time.  To solve the issue I purchase plastic mask at the dollar store and had students’ papier-mâché on the plastic mask. After the four layers of papier-mâché were dried the “papier-mâché mask” lifted right off the plastic mask.  Don’t let the masks go to waste; simply reuse the mask for next year or as a prop for your display.  

The gold mask was the “form” for the masks (purchased at the Dollar Store). A cost effective way to recreate a papier-mâché. 

How to make the basic paste for the papier-mâché:

One-part flour
Two parts water
3 tablespoons of salt

Combine flour and water in a bowl.
Mix until all the lumps are gone (until smooth).
Add salt.

For this project you will also require the following:

·      Old newspaper

·      Paint

·      Mod Podge

·      Jewels, gems, feathers, stickers etc.…

Once you’ve gathered old newspaper you can tear them into strips. It was easier to work with torn papers (especially for children). One by one dip a torn piece of newspaper into the papier-mâché mixture. With two figures remove the access paste. You want to create a tin layer. Be sure to cover your entire mold (this does require some overlapping). For best results allow 24 hours in between applications. Minimums of three layers are required (I don’t recommend more than 4 layers).  After the final application is dried it is now time to decorate your mask!

Notice how the torn newspaper overlaps. With scissors trim the access newspaper around the edges of the mask. If you find the surface of the mask to be rough, use sandpaper to help create a smoother finish.

Keep in mind; it will take a few coats of paint to successfully hide the newspaper. Once the paint is dried apply a thick layer of Mod Podge to the mask. Not only is Mod Podge glue but it also acts as a finisher and sealer. You can purchase it at any craft store. It will give a nice shine to your finish product. Once the Mod Podge is applied to the entire surface of the mask you are now ready to decorate.

 Note: Only a thin layer of Mod Podge is necessary. With a paintbrush you can gently brush Mod Podge over the jewels (once they are in place). This will prevent the jewels from falling off.

Final product!

Happy Decorating!