M is for.....

Money.Magic. Music. Mom. Marriage. Mahi Mahi (last nights' dinner: yummo)

So many choices. I am going with what I have some pictures of:

Masks

Way back in 2004 Coach and I had a lovely vacation in Venice Italy. I know I have spoke of this before...bear with me, it was my first (and ONLY) trip to Europe.

This was a "free" trip that Coach had won for us.

It included daily tours which were fabulous...we saw more than we could/would have EVER seen on our own.

One of the tours was to a mask making shop. (we just painted pre-made masks)

We learned about the Venetian history of the masks and the art of mask making.

Our instructor...no, he did not wear the scary white mask the whole time...

Some Venetian mask history:

"During the 13th century, the citizens of the Venetian Republic were, by reputation, exceedingly wealthy, luxurious, and decadent. Over time, they began to realize that if they concealed their identity, they would then be able to carry out their daily lives in secrecy and without fear of retribution. With so much personal wealth, citizens often found themselves making deals and agreements with other citizens outside of the eyes of the law. Hence, the wearing of a mask became increasingly popular.
When wearing a mask your identity is concealed and so your social status is not known to others, which allowed servants and business owners to be treated equally and curtailed many forms of inequality or prejudice"

Eventually the masked Venetian citizens were getting a bit out of control...stealing, lying, cheating. So the government and religious leaders swayed the public to ONLY wear their masks during the holy season of Carnivale.

Coach and I really enjoyed this lesson and the painting of our masks...we have fun when we can have creative freedom. Coach did a great job on his and then as an afterthought he added a band of gold inside the black...and his mask got a bit "scary" and devil like.

But I still like it. On our last night we had a lovely dinner at an old mansion (I suppose they are all old there) and all the guests of the tour wore their masks.

It was our "carnivale."

I wish I had taken more pictures when we were there...the homes were just exquisite...so many details in everylittlething.

I found this out while researching some facts about the masks...about my "cat" mask:

The pretty Gnaga, which resembles a cat's face, was used by gay men to "meow" proposals to good-looking boys.

Had I only known this...MEOW!

check out how others use the letter M at A to Z Mondays