An exhibit curated by Fred C. Göes and Graça Göes
Spring, 2004
Masking, disguising, cross-dressing - the essential gestures of carnival are intimately related to the idea of becoming “an other”, of entertaining fantasies, of traveling to other worlds, old and new. However, some fantasies are liberating, while others can be oppressive. Sometimes carnival masquerading is aimed at subverting established social, political or racial hierarchies. Sometimes the flights of fantasy of carnival have a contrary effect by reinforcing existing social, economic or racial inequalities. The different ways carnival is celebrated in the Americas embody the cultural fusion of European, African and Amerindian traditions. It is from this fusion that the reinvention of carnival traditions springs in the New World.
Fantasies of Royalty
Kings, queens and their courts are recurring fantasy in carnival celebrations of the Americas, whether the inspiration comes from European, African or Native American traditions. It shows that, although having different meanings, there is a sort of nostalgia in the dream of nobility that never existed in the New World where the political ideal has always been that of the democratic republic. One of the iconic images of Mardi Gras in New Orleans is the photograph of the Duke and the Duchess of Windsor (the real royalty) bowing to the papier maché Rex of Mardi Gras at a ball on March 6th, 1950.
Indians
The presence of black people masked as Indians often appears in Carnival celebrations of the Americas. Neither the origins nor the meaning of this gesture is very clear. New Orleanians trace the origins to the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exhibition that took place in New Orleans from December 16th, 1884 to June 30th, 1885 where a working class audience identified with the scene of massacred Indians. According to Michael P. Smith, “recognition and appreciation of friendship through cross-cultural masking is a continuation of a pre-colonial African tradition which dictated that when traveling in foreign territories, when they encounter another people who are friendly and respected, they honor such new friends by creating a ceremonial costume for some festive occasion. This combines artistic elements of both their cultures - signifying “a joining” brotherho. (The “Mardi Gras Indians” and the New Orleans Sond Line (1992)
One wonders about the meaning of this curious practice, found only in carnival celebrations of the New World. Is it, perhaps, a way of honoring the original inhabitants of the New World, as suggested by Smith? Is it a way for black masqueraders to relive the ancestral power of Native Americans? Or is it a way of showing a sense of belonging to the New World through fantasy, that is, by dressing up as its original inhabitants?
Street Performances
At first glance, carnival parades in Paris, New Orleans, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad Tobago and Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century reveal many similarities. The structure of a profane procession appears in some images, the masks, the idea of revel is present in all of them. However, Indians, black people and music with drums appear as an American interpretation of the celebration.According to Ostendorf , in “The Cultural Expectionalism of New Orleans' Music” (1992), on the level of “performance” dance is inspired by imitation, parody, travesty, and is therefore the best vehicle of copying or incorporating the other. Indeed the oldest meaning of “mimesis” (Greek for representation or imitation) is incorporation of the other through “dance”). In the first half of 19th century carnival in the European style didn't exist in Brazil. It was called entrudo (meaning the “entrance” to or the beginning of Lent). The entrudo was a war in the streets in which the weapons were large syringes made of thin metal used to squirt liquids, gourds made of wax also known as limões de cheiro or aromatic lemons, flour and plaster, cartridges with starchy powders, bad-smelling bombs, anything that could be thrown at unsuspecting passers-by.
Masks and Costumes
For mask to produce its effect, the presence of the mask is just as important as what lies behind it, what the masks seeks to disguise. In a true masquerade, it is almost impossible to identify the origin, the nationality, or the gender of what is behind the mask, as long as the idea is to hide, to reinvent new characters.
Skulls and Skeletons
The presence of death, in form of skulls and skeletons, celebrates life. Behind the mask of death hides a living player. And the idea of death is conjured by the living trough masquerade in order to draw it closer, to tame it, to make it lose its spell on life.Cross-dressing Cross-dressing may be a form of social critique, a way to highlight social differences, or just subversion. The BearBears are present in Carnival since immemorial times. The tradition appears in some Carnival celebrations in the Americas re-signified (reinvented). Sometimes it happens in regions where the beast does not exist as in Pernambuco, northeastern state of Brazil, or in the O ruro Carnival in Bolívia.
Percussion
One of the most evident African and Amerindian contributions in American Carnivals is related to the diversity of rhythms achieved by percussion instruments. They are the basic structure of the School of Samba drums orchestra (bateria), the Timbalada in Bahia, of the Caribbean steel orchestras, of the back beat in New Orleans.
