Mbillions of masks have been distributed among the peoples of the world since the outbreak of the pandemic. We wear them on the subway, in the supermarket, in the theater, at concerts. At first they were scarce, then homemade, then standardized and expensive, until finally they were available for little money. Some people get angry over five grams of shreds plus elastic. Surgeons and OR staff wear them day in, day out. Half of Asia has been wearing a mask for half a century. Many Asians are used to pandemic outbreaks and have more respect for the unpredictable viruses.
Masks are as old as the world. They can be found in all cultures as an anthropological constant. Made of stone, plants, fabric, feathers, leather, wood or papyrus, very rarely made of gold like the masks of Tutankhamun or Agamemnon. They were cult objects in ritual acts and were intended to establish a connection to the gods.
The mask is the second sight with magical power. Shamans wore animal masks, as shown in cave paintings. The ancient theater also made use of the magic power of the mask; the laughing and crying mask symbolizes the theater to this day. In the commedia dell’arte, half masks allowed Arlecchino and Colombina at least half a facial play.
Cover up, hide, disguise
We know carnival and carnival masks, death masks, breathing masks. Chinese opera and kabuki theater are unthinkable without masks. Not to be forgotten: the mask of Zoro and the Phantom of the Opera. Literature and film: Alexandre Dumas wrote “The Man in the Iron Mask”. In their most recent film, The Duel, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are chivalrous in masks. Verdi wrote the opera “A Masked Ball” and Siegfried Lenz a collection of stories, “The Mask”. The ski mask is preferred by terrorists and bandits – their hunters, whether KSK or Special Forces, of course, wear them too.
Conceal, hide, disguise – that is the universal function of the mask. And much more. The mask allows for role play and impersonation. It covers, protects or frightens. She can do anything. With the mask you can be someone else, slip into another self, see carnival and carnival. This was most evident in the Roman theater with its full-head masks. Identity is interchangeable. Even the voices have alienated these giant “dumbbells”.
The cheapest protection in case of an epidemic
Back to our time, to the psychology of disguise. Do people resist the mask requirement because it is a leveller? There is not much choice. Either FFP2 or surgical mask. Black, white or turquoise? The choice is accompanied by agony, the uncanny. Mask represents hospital, surgery or isolation ward. In the meantime it is also more cheerful; people want to dress up fashionably. Bavarian boss Markus Söder wears the white-blue rhombus of Bavaria in front of his face, EU ministers show up with euro-blue masks and a wreath of stars. Others wear flowers.
Nevertheless: More than ever, the eye area that remains free is now important, anyway the most interesting thing on a face. Some Arab women have always understood what you can do with unveiled eyes. Eyes play, while the folds in the bottom have to hide.
But it’s not just about beauty. Covering your mouth and nose is practical and health-promoting when the person opposite has a cold. And the half mask protects the other person if you cough or sneeze yourself. Masks are the cheapest protection in case of an epidemic. Our ancestors knew this even before the invention of the electron microscope and the FFP2 mask, as evidenced by testimonies of plague veils and later the photos from the Spanish flu period after the First World War.
You accept them and hope for protection
The mask that is now lying around carelessly on the streets and squares is only 110 years old. A Chinese doctor, Dr. Wu Lien-teh, invented it during the Mongolian-Manchurian pneumonic plague. On March 10, 2021, Google put a small Google Doodle monument on the browser page for his 142nd birthday. The mask of Dr. Wu looked almost like today’s surgical mask and very quickly helped contain the pandemic. Not as good as a vaccine, but effective enough to keep a lot of virus out of the airways.
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