No offense intended by anyone, I’m sure. We just can’t resist a chance to pun.
I think after 1600 or thereabouts it (and dancing, hah) was actually made illegal-- some sort of sumptuary or vice law-- except for right at Carnevale or other big official holidays. Whether or not people followed the law. . . but it was not legally mandatory. Oh, and mast.
This Wikipedia article notes that masks were permitted at different times in the year. This would tend to imply that anything “mandatory” was social pressure. (I would also guess–with no actual evidence–that the masking was a practice of the wealthy, not the poor.)
Oh, that’s alright. I’m a pun lover myself.
Thanks for the input!
I think it has to do with the social customs - in older literature, there is reference to the “well-known mask (persons who wear masks) freedoms” during the carnival, meaning not only speech, but esp. flirting with persons of other gender, and for women, touching, which was strictly governed/ forbidden during most of the year (social mores, not legally forbidden) due to the prudishness of those times. (That’s also why the Church and moralists objected to the excesses of the Carnival).
So if “everybody” is wearing a mask as a signal that anything goes and he won’t be punished, a person without a mask can be seen not only as spoilsport who doesn’t want to join in, but worse, as a moralist who abhors these lascivious lust of the flesh, and by remaining mask-less, reminds everybody else of the normal mores, thus spoiling the fun.
I’m only surprised about this starting in October - that’s really early for Carnival. Even the Rhinelanders start on Nov. 11th.
The Dopers are truly incorrigible when it comes to puns. One small typo incorriges us.