“Man is least himself”, Oscar Wilde wrote 125 years in the past, “when he talks in his personal individual. Give him a masks and he’ll let you know the reality.”
What is a Skull Mask ?
A masks is a usually ornate piece that completely or partially hides the face. Masks have been used since historic instances for ceremonial and sensible functions.
The phrase “masks” has its origin within the French masque or maschera in Italian or masquera in Spanish. The attainable ancestors in Latin (not classical) are mascus, chew = “ghost”, and the Arab maskharah = “jester”, “man with a masks”.
If we apply this concept to skull masks we need to delve a bit into the history.
The stunning skulls masks have been first seen within the 17th century in a conventional vogue. Created to honor the useless on Día de los Muertos (occurring this yr on October 28th-November 1st), the “Day of the Lifeless,” they’ve roots in Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec cultural celebrations. You possibly can see them in historic artwork in addition to in graffiti and artwork being bought at the moment.
They’ve many varieties, one being manufactured from sugar, referred to as sugar skulls or ” calavera de azúcar” in Spanish. The candy deal with is given to somebody dwelling, often with their identify on the highest in icing.

To illustrate what has been written previously, here you can see 4 examples of skulls masks commonly used as a costume complement.

Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Mask
Day of the deads in spanish “Día de los Muertos“, It’s a vacation that’s celebrated in Mexico yearly on November 1 honoring deceased relations and associates.
The important thing to sugar cranium adorning is remembering that it’s about celebrating the lifetime of a beloved one – it’s a joyous exercise, not macabre.
Over the previous a number of years, sugar skulls, also called candy skulls, in spanish “calaveras de azúcar”, or Calaveras for brief, have change into more and more fashionable in artwork and trend.
Sugar Skulls are adorned with brightly coloured frosting, foil, beads, feathers and even rhinestones. Frequent ornamental motifs embrace crosses (a product of the Catholic affect on the vacation), marigolds, mandalas, and all kinds of patterns.
Below you can see some representative examples of sugar skull masks, commonly used on halloween.
Curiositities : Why do soldiers and airsoft players wear skulls masks ?
Some Squaddies put on them primarily to dam out blowing sand and to easily look cool and intimidate the extremely spiritual radical enemies we face within the theater of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Within the desert balacavas are good for protecting dust, mud and sand out of yout face they usually defend your pores and skin from burns. They’re particularly helpful for once you’re caught in a protracted convoy on a windy day with you head protruding a hatch. They’re additionally good for chilly climate operations and the Royal Navy even had a flame retardant model for gunnery crews.
The British have issued shemaghs to some models for over 100 years and in line with Wikipedia the Germans have issued them too
However the truth is all army models have a exactly outlined uniform they need to put on with out deviation. That’s the reason they’re referred to as uniforms. They’re the identical (i.e. uniform). The army is massive on folks trying the identical. Similar cloths, identical haircuts, and many others. Non-uniform gear is allowed when particular mission parameters name for it

Below you can see some examples of airsoft skull masks or bandanas used by airsoft players