Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
Accepted Paper
Masking as a multisensory experience: a case study on Banat carnival(s)
Diana Mihut
(West University of Timisoara)
Diana Pizmas
(West University of Timisoara)
Spring carnivals are a practice specific only to certain regions of Romania, such as Banat. This paper aims to analyze how the masquerade occasioned by these carnivals constitutes a multisensory experience for the performing community, in recent years.
Long abstract
We intend to explore today masking as a multisensory, performative, and community-driven experience through an ethnological case study of the Fasching carnival in Celnic, a German Roman-Catholic neighborhood in Anina, Banat. Through field research conducted over the past two years, including a detailed observation of the 2024 carnival and interviews with its key organizers, we examine how the contemporary revival of Fasching mediates local identity, community participation, and cultural continuity. We argue that the event offers more than visual spectacle: it is an immersive, collective expression of heritage, resilience, and sensory memory.