The traditional masks of Mamoiada's Carnival (Sardinia, Italy) are the Mamuthones and the Issohadores.
The former, dressed in sheep clothes, wear a mask in alder or wild pear wood; on their backs, they carry "sa carriga", cowbells of approximately 30kg of weight, tied with leather strings, while on their neck they carry smaller belts.The Issohadores wear a flax shirt, a red jacket, white trousers, a female shawl and - on theirshoulder - they carry brass and bronze harness-bells; some of them wear a white anthropomorphicmask.
The parade of the Mamuthones and Isshoadores is an actual solemn ceremony, as orderly as areligious procession.The Mamuthones, set in two parallel lines and flanked by the Issohadores, move very slowly underthe weight of the cowbells and in a rhythm which is scanned by the Issohadores, giving a shoulderblow to make all the cowbells ring.The Issohadores move in swifter steps and - suddenly - throw their rope, sa soha, to capture someof the bystanders: to free themselves, the prisoners shall have to offer them drinks
Original Size: 240 x 330 mm
