Mask Customs and Identity in the Region of Southeastern Europe. The Case of Macedonia
Mask Customs and Identity in the Region of Southeastern Europe. The Case of Macedonia

Summary/Abstract: Since the 1990s, the Republic of Macedonia has been going through a period of democratization and transition. This process triggered a crisis and introduced great uncertainties into every sphere of life, which resulted in identity crises of both the individual and the collective. In pursuit of the confirmation of their own identity, individuals, as well as the community, returned to the values of folk culture, which have traditionally been held as most sacred. By referring to these traditional values, the individual and the communities feel safer, strengthening their consciousness and their internal relationships, resulting in the affirmation of their community at all levels: social, economic and ritual. In this regard, mask customs in Macedonia and in the wider region of Southeastern Europe represent a typical example of one of the forms of articulating identity for both the individual and the ethnic community. For this paper, mask rituals and carnivals in three towns in Macedonia (Prilep, Strumica and Vevčani) are analysed in order to explain changes in the symbolism of the masks by relating them to the social and political contexts. Masks are a dynamic form of representing identity on the local, national and supranational levels. The paper, thus, argues for the significance of “tradition” which is being appropriated to manifest new forms of identification.

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