The Fool

My initial immediate experience of the fool in masking was viewing Morris Dancing right here at home in Yorkshire, England. The Morris dancers had been dressed up in their normal dancing footwear with bells and baggy pants. To be totally sincere I have generally found Morris males a bit humorous! Perhaps I ought to make clear about Cecil Sharp, no I’ll depart that to a footnote.

The Boars Head Morris Males had been dancing in a pub automobile park. ( Pub short for Public House a location for consuming beer etc. in the United kingdom.) They had been doing the normal dances that are associated to fertility, fantastic crops and harvests etc. But of plan they really do not really have the pagan beliefs off pat. Thoughts you when you see them consume ale in the quantities that they did then you would realise that they had maybe fully understood the pagan techniques of getting a fantastic time. ( Not to say all individuals who adhere to the pagan techniques consume a lot of ale, just a handy concept )

What you are most likely asking by this juncture is this to do with fools?

Well the Boars Head Morris Males had a masked fool. He was total with boars mask pantaloons and boars headed stick. He also carried a bucket for accumulating cash donations for charity, or maybe beer cash. He followed the dancers mimicked them and cajoled the watchers for change to fill his bucket.

Curiously I realized the fool really nicely and in actual existence, with out the mask, he would never do what he did with the mask. Being English he was just far as nicely polite!

The Boars Head stick became a threatened cudgel, never utilized, just pointed and waved. The mask was a location to conceal behind, for a normal daily person. As you will discover by looking additional on this site the mask permits individuals to change personalities. He bullied and pranced and loved his twin mission to collect cash and to safeguard the dancers from the crowd. Sometimes the kids get as nicely close. That is not allowed. Sometimes the dancers room is threatened by cars entering the parking room. Wow! That is not a fantastic concept!

But suddenly the fool sets off in pursuit of 3 attractive ladies. He rattles his bucket and rounds them up as a sheep dog would. They are pressed into donating generously. He just leaves his dancers unprotected to fend for on their personal. The subsequent ten minutes is exchanged in fantastic natured banter. ( The spouse of the fool is present! )

The over is from memory, most likely about twenty many years back again. In terms of mask traditions that is really current. For mask traditions can be traced back again once more at minimum 25,000 many years. I am certain they go back again once more to the time of the initial questioning peoples fifty,000……………..or a lot much more many years?

What then is this reference to fools and masking traditions. Well as you dig via this site you will discover that the fool crops up in several other traditions.

In Masquerade the fool is an important figure. On the surface area region he, sometimes she, is the 1 who keeps purchase. He controls the kids, he stops their prying eyes invading the dressing room. His stick maintains the efficiency region. He cracks jokes, entertains, juggles pulls faces and Will get VIOLENT. He chases the kids with a whip and hits them mercilessly if he will get the opportunity. He tries to seduce ladies, and does if he can!

Suddenly he turns into bored and goes absent to sit and speak philosophically with a group of friends from his unmasked time. As the conversation progresses he introduces new suggestions. He starts to ridicule the accepted norm. He concerns the accepted reality. He attempts to turns arguments on their heads

The Ubiquitous Fool

The fool is a ubiquitous. The fool occurs in the masking traditions of North and South The united states, Africa, Europe, Asia, China, …………………… if you know some a lot much more make sure you fill in my blank.

Universally the fool treads the line between normality and the incongruities that the world. The fool is every wise and totally none-wise. Not that he does not use his senses he just utilizes then in a various way. He concerns and cajoles. He jokes and makes pleasant of other people. Yet when somebody much more than steps the arbitrary boundary, (who made the choice ) he changes. Suddenly he turns into the quiet hearth cat, the sleeping feline, domesticated, smooth and silky. And as you stroke and pleasure the cat she starts to become claws and teeth and worse growls. He turns into the raging tiger, claws and teeth.

What is the role of the fool?

The fool usually concerns. S/He challenges the norm. S/He goes previous the program and daily. S/He crosses the boundary between the physical and the spiritual. The fool understands every sides but sadly does not comprehend both. The fool is previous judgement but is incapable of judging. The fool is a go-between, a hinderer, a creator and destroyer. He sets problems up only to break them down.

To be sincere I love the fool, simply because I feel I am 1, at occasions. The fool embodies the contradictions of the world. He accepts our human frailties and concurrently challenges them. For these of you who know the symbols on the tarot cards consider the fool, for these of you who do not make some time to discover out.

Some Examples of Fools in Masquerade Italy In Masks the Artwork of expression Cesare Poppi describes the Carnival at Moena in the Italian Dolomites. Two Arlechign, a nearby edition of Harlequin, lead the masked group. They are dressed in chequered costumes, with a tall pointed cap beneath which is a loose veil providing them a featureless appearance. They carry horse whips. About them the crowd of cheering youthful boys follows their moves. Suddenly the dash into the youths slashing fiercely with the horse whips, striking vicious blows to the baffled kids. Panic ensues. A pleasing village scene has suddenly been turned on its head.

China In China, or your nearby China Town, when the New Yr is celebrated the Lion Dance is carried out. This frequently acrobatic masked dance is carried out by, generally two dancers accompanied by two Happy Face dancers sporting their papier mache masks total with large grins painted on them. As the dance progresses via the streets the dragon collects lettuces and cash to help carry luck in to the New Yr. About the dragon the two fools pester the crowd for cash and concurrently maintain the crowd, particularly the kids, at a secure distance.

Pacific West Coast

Noohlmahl

Throughout Kwakwaka’wakw Potlatch ceremonies in the West Coast Areas of Canada an additional fool prowled about. He is Noohlmahl. A filthy creature with a lengthy nose from which snot streams he is up for a laugh but ought to the watchers stage out his state, particularly his nose, a violent response can be anticipated.

Iriquois Untrue Face Society

The Iriquois Untrue Face Society also have a fool mask to help the processes of healing that they undertake. These corn husk mask are relatively easy and disposable. As with other traditions the fool plays his amusing and organising role.

Playfulness has a main location in many masquerades.

In our lives we all play the fool, despise the fool in other people and love the fool who entertains. Sadly the fool who entertains can also be torn apart by internal psychological divisions.

The masked fool is the 1 who maintains purchase and at the same time concerns it and sometimes on a whim destroys it. Traditionally the fool treads a good line between the known and the mysterious, the suitable and the unacceptable. Even with out the mask I am certain you recognise the fool in your existence.

The fool is a universal turning into. These days (15/twelve/04) I misplaced my fool, she was our cat. If you wish to know she died of aged age. She had the soft luxurious of a purring fur to stroke and in a moment she transformed into a fanged biter. She had the gourmand taste of a French chef however licked her personal arse. She refused to go outdoors when the wind blew, simply because it was cold, however sat happily on the wet grass when it was raining and blowing a gale. Tango, the cat, was my fool, just as I was hers when enjoying conceal and appear for. I cherished her affection and was saddened by her rejection of the food I gave her. All in all Tango, our family members cat, was all contradiction and superbly herself. She is a really missed little turning into.

Footnote

Cecil Sharp collected folk sings in the British Isles. Among folk enthusiasts he is something of a hero as he preserved may folk songs and traditions. He was instumental in assisting preserve the hundreds of various Morris dances. Yet as with the song lyrics he collected they had been purged for naughty bits. Something that went in opposition to his rigid Victorian morality was censored. The whole of British folk custom was made “great”.

Inspired by Masks the Artwork of Expression ed. John Mack ISBN -7141-2530-X and other sources that I have study and internalised lengthy back again.

© Ian Bracegirdle 2004 1 Elderberry Close to East Morton BD20 5WA United kingdom 01535 692207

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Ian Bracegirdle is a instructor, plan leader and therapist. He is the creator of the site http://www.newsletterjournal.com a site for all interested in masks. Ian is fascinated by the art type of masks as nicely as the cultural connotations. He has researched many areas of masks and recognise common hyperlinks in many historical traditions. He believes our current masking traditions are connected back again once more to the time of shaman and other kinds of magic predating monotheist religions. The earliest masking data are at minimum 25,000 many years aged.