{"id":17631,"date":"2023-02-17T15:01:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T04:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shop.movery.it\/carnevale-a-napoli\/"},"modified":"2023-12-27T16:27:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T15:27:53","slug":"carnevale-a-napoli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/carnevale-a-napoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Carnival in Naples between traditions and masks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68_1 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/carnevale-a-napoli\/#Le_origini_del_Carnevale\" title=\"The origins of Carnival\">The origins of Carnival<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/carnevale-a-napoli\/#Le_maschere_della_tradizione_napoletana\" title=\"The masks of the Neapolitan tradition\">The masks of the Neapolitan tradition<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"0 0 []\">The <strong>Carnival<\/strong> is that party where the laughter and shouts of the <strong>children<\/strong> Fully animate the streets, while colors, <strong>confetti<\/strong> and music flood every corner of the city.<\/p>\n<p>Every year on the waterfront, in the old town centers, and in the squares of all towns, the following are organized <strong>parades<\/strong> and themed parades, where children and young people compete to see who will wear the <strong>costume<\/strong> more original; let us remember, however, the rule <strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\"at Carnival every trick counts,\" however beware: sometimes it is interpreted far too literally!<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Le_origini_del_Carnevale\"><\/span>The origins of Carnival<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The origins of Carnival are very ancient and derive from pagan traditions. In particular, the typical custom of wearing masks derives from the belief that these masks would ward off the<strong> spirits <\/strong>malignant. Over the centuries, especially with the advent of the <strong>Christianity<\/strong>, this conception has faded, but the habit of dressing up and identifying with a wide variety of characters has not changed.<\/p>\n<p>As early as the 13th century the<strong> King Charles of Bourbon<\/strong> loved to organize <strong>parties<\/strong> big and games for all the people by installing among the main streets of the city so-called \"cuccagne,\" wooden poles on the top of which food was hung to start a lively <strong>race<\/strong> among the plebs, won by the first to the tip. Hence the current <strong>game of cuccagna<\/strong>: over time the award was replaced by the <strong>money<\/strong>, up to the <strong>flag <\/strong>which is used today for the pure purpose of having fun and passing on the custom.<\/p>\n<p>The famous parades with floats typical of Carnival were already being organized at that time by the <strong>noble <\/strong>Neapolitans, but in a different way: the order was to fill them with delicacies and goodness of all kinds on the trees placed in the center of the large <strong>wagon<\/strong>, often greased with animal fat or soap. Hence began the game, which unfortunately often turned into a real <strong>tragedy<\/strong> for the ferocity with which food was to be grabbed. Also known as \"<strong>binge<\/strong>\", could never be missed before the <strong>Lenten fasting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, have you read our <a href=\"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/carnevale-dolci-tipici\/\">article<\/a> On typical Neapolitan carnival sweets?<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Le_maschere_della_tradizione_napoletana\"><\/span>The masks of the Neapolitan tradition<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Everyone, whether Italian or not, knows <strong>Punchinello<\/strong>, the <strong>mask<\/strong> carnival par excellence and also the symbol of <strong>Naples<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>There are several hypotheses about the origins of the name: the first that it comes from <strong>flea<\/strong>, the second from \"<strong>chicken <\/strong>o<strong> chick<\/strong>\" whose petite and somewhat effeminate voice it recalls; another theory states that it derives from a <strong>surname<\/strong> very present in the local reality of the time, namely Punchinello or Polsinelli.<\/p>\n<p>Already widespread in popular culture in the 16th century, the Punchinello mask came to life in the 17th century thanks to the <strong>comedy<\/strong> \"The Constant Lucilla with the Ridiculous Dykes and Feats of Polycinella,\" written by the<strong>actor<\/strong> <strong>Silvio Fiorillo<\/strong>, who recreated those famous features by drawing inspiration from the face of a <strong>farmer <\/strong>by <strong>Acerra<\/strong>, with a long nose and a face darkened by the<strong> sunshine <\/strong>knocker of the <strong>campaign<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>His figure is associated with a slacker but cunning character whose only thought is to eat and drink, talkative, clumsy and crazy-looking, hunched over, wearing a black mask from the <strong>hooked nose<\/strong>, hat, and loose white dresses stopped at the waist by a black belt.<\/p>\n<p>With his innate <strong>comedy<\/strong> and his cunning manages to fool everyone and mock the powerful in an ironic and irreverent way, fully representing the nature of the Neapolitan people.<\/p>\n<p>Punchinello immediately became the protagonist of the <strong>shows <\/strong>by <strong>puppets<\/strong> and <strong>puppets<\/strong> as an alternative hero fighting the enemies of everyday life. It is easy to notice references to this character on the streets of Naples, especially in <strong>San Gregorio Armeno<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Another typically Neapolitan mask is <strong>Tartaglia<\/strong>, whose name is derived from the <strong>mathematician Niccolo Fontana<\/strong>, also called <strong>Niccolo Tartaglia<\/strong> for his <strong>stuttering<\/strong>. Hence the figure of the Neapolitan commedia d'arte, with a peculiar physicality and a strange appearance in that he is burly but with a shaved face and a shaved head, wearing a suit with a <strong>cloak<\/strong> particularly colorful with yellow and green stripes, wide white collar and <strong>glasses<\/strong> green.<\/p>\n<p>It is precisely these bizarre characteristics that trigger laughter in anyone who observes it.<\/p>\n<p>Many of you may be familiar with the French character<strong> Scaramouche<\/strong>, whose image actually stems from the <strong>captain<\/strong> Neapolitan <strong>Scaramuzza<\/strong>; he was the actor <strong>Tiberius Fiorilli<\/strong> to bring it into <strong>France<\/strong> in 1640, where the boastful, fanatical character dressed in the black Spanish uniform changed character and replaced the <strong>sword<\/strong> with the<strong> guitar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Does the phrase, \"Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango!\" ring a bell?<\/p>\n<p>Surely you must have recognized in this expression the famous song by the <strong>Queen<\/strong>, <strong>Bohemian Rhapsody<\/strong>, where Scaramuccia is remembered in his primitive guise as a quarrelsome, fight-prone character.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carnival is that festival where children's laughter and screams enliven...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":15873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[],"locations":[167,208],"class_list":["post-17631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eventi","locations-campania","locations-napoli"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31608,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions\/31608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17631"},{"taxonomy":"locations","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movery.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations?post=17631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}