Reading Maltese carnival costumes

Abstract

A carnival costume is charged with possibilities – what the wearer chooses to wear or to omit indicates whether s/he wants to reveal or hide her/his identity. Does the costumed figure wear a mask? A wig? A hat or a head covering? Do wearers deform their bodies through the costume? What operations do the costumes perform regarding the individual’s social status? Carnival in Malta under British rule in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries took place in the street, in private ballrooms and later at public balls. All social classes mixed in the street and in this context, ostentation or dissimulation of identity was also linked to social background. People from poorer backgrounds used basic elements to complicate their identity, the most common being sheets covering the whole person, especially their faces and sometimes exaggerating their natural gure by making it appear taller by means of poles or brooms held aloft under the sheets. Persons from wealthier backgrounds wore ‘dominos’, long, loose cloaks associated for centuries with Venetian carnival, often dark in colour, but sometimes adorned with bows and ribbons, generally with a hood that covered the head; the face was often covered with a mask. In 1891, the press commented that dominos accounted for five-sixths of the Carnival disguises that year stating that they were comfortable (comodi) and cheap (poco costosi). [Excerpt]