The Carnival of Barbagia

In the villages of Barbagia, Carnival has nothing to do with floats and confetti. It has the deep sound of cowbells, the smell of sheepskins, the black faces of wooden masks. It is a rite that comes from very far back, tied to the cycle of the seasons, to the work of farmers and shepherds, to the relationship between people and animals. Each village has its own masks, with different names and gestures, but in all of them you feel the same thing: an ancient world walking the streets again.

When it begins

The Barbagia carnival does not start in February. Its first appearance is on the night of Sant'Antonio Abate, between 16 and 17 January, when great bonfires are lit in all the inland villages. It is around those fires that the masks first appear, and from then on they accompany the weeks up to the last days of Carnival, the Sunday and Shrove Tuesday, when they come out one last time. In Ovodda the festival even ends on Ash Wednesday.

The Mamuthones and Issohadores of Mamoiada

Sardinia's most famous masks are those of Mamoiada. The Mamuthones wear a visera, a mask of carved black wood with hard, melancholy features. They wear the mastruca, a black sheepskin jacket, and on their shoulders a carriga, a cluster of cowbells that can weigh over twenty kilos, tied with leather straps. Below, dark velvet trousers and a woman's headscarf tied over the head.

The Mamuthones advance in two lines, in silence, with a heavy, rhythmic step: at every synchronised jump, with a shrug of the shoulders, the cowbells ring together in a deep roar, almost like thunder. Beside them move the Issohadores, in red jackets, white masks and black hats, armed with the soha, a rush rope with which they catch someone in the crowd, usually a young woman, as a wish for health and good fortune. The Issohadores lead and control the Mamuthones, with nimble movements that contrast with the slowness of the black lines.

The meaning of these masks has long been debated: some see a fertility rite for the harvest, some the depiction of tamed animals, others the memory of ancient struggles. The village keeps this memory in the Museum of Mediterranean Masks, which compares Sardinian masks with those of other peoples.

The Boes and Merdules of Ottana

In Ottana, in the Tirso valley, Carnival stages the relationship between man and working animal. The Boes wear horned wooden masks shaped like an ox's muzzle, white sheepskins and cowbells; the Merdules have masks with distorted human features and keep the Boes tied with ropes and sticks, trying to tame them. The Boes rebel, fall, get up again. Among them moves the Filonzana, an old woman dressed in black, bent over, spinning wool with a spindle and threatening to cut the thread of life of anyone who will not offer her a drink. Ottana's masks are still carved by village craftsmen today.

The Thurpos of Orotelli

In Orotelli the masks are called Thurpos, the blind ones. They do not use wooden masks: they blacken their faces with burnt cork and cover themselves with a black orbace hood. Some represent yoked oxen, others the farmer driving them, and they act out ploughing and sowing. With them comes s'eritaiu, the hedgehog hunter.

Other masks

In Samugheo the Mamutzones appear, with goatskins, horns and cowbells, together with s'Urtzu, an animal figure in chains. In Lula the protagonist is Su Battileddu, a man-beast dressed in skins and covered in blood and entrails, who is captured and symbolically sacrificed. In Ovodda, on Ash Wednesday, Mehuris de Lessia, the whole village blackens its face with soot and mocks authority and rules. Other masks can be found in Gavoi, Austis, Sarule, Orani and Fonni: almost every village in Barbagia has its own.

What to know before you go

The best time to see the masks is the night of 16 January, around the Sant'Antonio bonfires, and then on Carnival Sunday and Tuesday, when the outings are longer. In Mamoiada the Mamuthones come out in the afternoon and walk the village streets until dark. Carnival dates change every year; programmes are published by local tourist offices and town councils.

This is not a show to watch from a seat. You stand in the street among the villagers and move with the masks. You will be offered wine, sweets, broad beans with lard; there is dancing in the square. Remember that it is a community rite: respect the space, do not get in the way of the lines and ask before taking close-up photos.

During Carnival it can be very cold, especially in the higher villages such as Fonni and Mamoiada. You can stay in Nuoro, Oliena or in farm stays in the area. If you cannot come at Carnival, you can see the masks in the museums of Mamoiada and Ottana and, at the end of August, in the Redentore parade in Nuoro.