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There is nothing like a party to get you thinking about masks. At the famous Seychelles Carnival, I delve a little deeper into the world behind the mask.
Seeing all the Seychelles Carnival masks at the Carnavale International de Victoria makes me think about the face we present to the world. (Yes, yes, I do occasionally think.)
According to Carl Jung, we wear a mask everyday. This is the ‘persona’ we show to the world. According to me, at the Seychelles Carnival when we put on our carnival masks, hiding our everyday masks, the two masks start fighting for supremacy and who knows what’s going to be revealed?
Maybe it’s our dark side that will crawl out, the shadow self Carl Jung says is our repressed or denied side – the side you might not even know. Or maybe your inner child will come skipping out or that secret dancing girl hidden deep in your psyche.
More to a Seychelles Carnival mask than meets the eye
As Oscar Wilde said, “A mask tells us more than a face.”
Masks can protect, masks can unite, and there are enough famous quotes about masks to keep me entertained for hours. So let’s sit back, look at some Seychelles Carnival masks and attempt to find the truth behind the facade.
What Jim Morrison says about masks
The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are … You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.
― Jim Morrison from the Doors
What I say about masks
Let’s start a mask revolution!
What Phil McGraw says about masks
We all have a social mask, right? We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image. But behind that social mask is a personal truth, what we really, really believe about who we are and what we’re capable of.
Phil McGraw
What author Toba Beta says about masks
I don’t impressed if you’re a religious person. I just wanna know about soul behind that mask.
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
What Alexandre Dumas says about masks
All falsehood is a mask; and however well made the mask may be, with a little attention we may always succeed in distinguishing it from the true face.
― Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
What Paul Laurence Dunbar says about masks
We wear the mask that grins and lies. It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.
— Paul Laurence Dunbar
So now that we’ve disguised ourselves behind Seychelles Carnival masks, unleashed our dark sides and our new brightly-coloured masks have had a big battle with the everyday masks we use to hide our real selves, what happens when the masks are stripped away and our deepest truest carnival sides are revealed?
Carnival truths revealed
Oh, no! It’s chaos! People are laughing. Dancing. All control is lost! Where are our carefully crafted personas? Now that I’ve seen the truth in others I don’t dare take off my own mask and reveal my inner self, the part Carl Jung says I probably don’t even know.
Off with my mask
Who knows what I’ll find? Hopefully it’s not something like that Salman Rushdie quote about “Masks beneath masks until suddenly the bare bloodless skull.” Although, when you think of it, that’s what we all are underneath. Whatever. Here goes …
Oh. Okay, well that wasn’t so bad. My inner shadow self seems to having a really good time. Let some carnival’s darkness begin!
Read more about the Seychelles:
Where exactly are the Seychelles?
Read more about the Seychelles Carnival:
Lina and Carol’s Seychelles Carnival Adventure – a travel video
The Seychelles Carnival can change the world
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