Ever since the late 1400′s European nobility would frequently assemble in the king’s courtyard for any type of celebration in honor of different events, such as the king or queen’s birthday or the day when the king began his rule over the country and the like. At these events, the nobility would always dress in proper attire even better than they normally would in order to appear honorably in the king and queen’s presence.

On such festive occasions, the king would make his celebration official by holding the festivities in the royal ballroom with entertainment from the royal band. It is intriguing to note that whenever a king would call for a royal ball, this meant that the celebration would be a mask party.

Although this practice may seem childish, it was quite prevalent amongst the kings of Italy, France, Spain, and England. The reason for this will be clarified when we take a closer look at the origin of masks and their meanings.

The public eye was first exposed to masks through the theater. Masks appeared in soliloquies as well as plays in order to enhance character presentation. Costumes were highly advanced because of them, and many well known plays of Shakespeare used masks for props as well.

As plays and acting became more culturally accepted by the nobility and by the king and queen, naturally, they became the most popular scene for all nobility and merchants, and anyone who was anyone would want to attend them.

This meant, of course, that only those with the appropriate financial and social status would be able to attend the king’s theater, namely, the nobility. The nobility eventually became the main thrust of all theater productions.

Essentially, when the king and queen called for a celebration with a ballroom mask dance, they were calling for entertainment. This was not the kind of entertainment for anyone to partake in, but it was, rather, an opportunity to entertain the royal family. In other words, the same masks used in plays were now being worn by the nobility themselves in order to entertain the royal family.

This is the origin of masks in medieval Europe. With plays and ballroom dances, the masks signified an alliance with nobility and people of good fortune.

Geoffrey Diapprozziano is an expert historian and mask authority. For more details about the history of masks or the best way to bring a piece of history into your home by buying masquerade ball masks view the Party Oasis website online. Geoffrey is an SEO specialist working with SEO services group ClickResponse.

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