The Masks of Silence. A Brief History of the Ritual Mask in Căluș

This article considers the use of masks within the Căluș ritual, as attested by texts published in the 18th and 19th centuries. Accepted as archaic but of unknown origin, the Căluș ritual was and is notable for the employment of a variety of means of masking when it is performed, with many writers perceiving it according to a model that would inevitably include the use of ritual masks. Through a diachronic analysis, we propose to examine to what extent, in the first centuries of the attestation of Căluș, we can indeed speak of a constant presence of ritual masks within it.