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Derived from the Italian word “maschera,” which means “mask,” a masquerade is a festive and satirical event that brings people together in masks and costumes, often with extravagance. Historically, masquerades were popular during the Middle Ages in the Western world, particularly during carnivals where people from all social classes would gather to sing, dance, play music, exchange gifts, share meals, and more. The Middle Ages drew inspiration from ancient sources, particularly Roman traditions, where wearing masks, dressing up, singing, dancing, feasting, and exchanging gifts were all part of the Saturnalia festival, which took place during the winter solstice and celebrated the god Saturn who was said to have spent a long time in Latium, central Italy, before the foundation of the city. Today, masquerades are still organized in Black Africa, where masks and costumes have magical or religious significance. However, the most famous masquerades with medieval origins remain those of Venice, where masks and extravagant costumes guarantee anonymity, allowing for the most eccentric behaviors.
Metonymic shift and journey from literal to figurative
The word “mascarade” also refers, through a metonymic shift, to the burlesque musical part of a performance, which emerged during the Baroque period of the 16th century in Rome, Venice, Mantua, and Florence. Masked characters paraded on stage, alternating dances and recitations of gallant parodic verses. When one shifts from the literal to the figurative meaning, “mascarade” becomes synonymous with hypocritical attitudes bordering on grotesque imposture or parody, particularly in the social, legal, or political world.
On the question of ordinary madness
Sometimes, the “actors” of a mascarade – both personal and public – may lose their festive and enjoyable nature and become menacing, deleterious, or even murderous. In certain situations, the crowd that joins the mascarade, seeing it as a way to escape from a reality that is too heavy or disappointing, is at risk of being consumed by it, sometimes at the cost of their own mental health. In such cases, one can speak of access to ordinary madness.
Ordinary madness refers to a personality disorder whose point of origin is idealization as a defense mechanism of individuals who replace a disturbing reality with a more alienating representation. This firmly rooted belief drags their loved ones into the same mental universe, making ordinary madness alienating and contagious.
In his Tales of Ordinary Madness (1977, for the French edition), German-American novelist Charles Bukowski evokes, through twenty different stories, various extravagant tales where the masquerade, flirting with depersonalization, leads those who involve themselves in it to a downfall that only stops at death. By trying to escape from a harsh reality, they engage in this “ordinary madness,” which becomes their destiny.
The Lebanese Parliament: beware of ordinary madness!
The Lebanese Parliament, since the end of September 2022, has embarked on a gigantic masquerade for electing the successor to General Michel Aoun at the head of the country. No need for masks or costumes crafted with great art: they are already well and truly masked and disguised. The great “political” celebration ridicules democracy, making a perfect parody of it with a mastery of the exercise. What about the crowd watching them, who adheres, hopes, waits, and believes? They are not safe from the danger of ordinary madness, which initially fascinates, transports, then stupefies, and succeeds in blurring the vulgarity, the imposture, and the moral depravity.
Lebanese people, always remember this: “The mad pass. The madness remains.” Perhaps we could protect ourselves from the fatal masquerade that everyone knows.