MASKARE!

in·san·i·ty

/ɪnˈsænɪti/ 

[in-san-i-tee]

–noun, plural in·san·i·ties.

1. the condition of being insane; a derangement of the mind. Synonyms: dementia, lunacy, madness, craziness, mania, aberration.

I grew up on my father and grandparents telling me stories about winter in Tisno - stories of the small town festivities that are virtually unknown to the summer tourists, being hidden away and kept secret by the locals...

It was as though a distant wind had swept through Tisno which brought with it a wave of insanity. Virtually overnight, the stillness and serenity of winter was overthrown by parties, lunacy and every sort of bizarre thing imaginable. It was Maskare - a week long festival celebrating insanity, where all law and order was thrown out the window in favour of anarchy and mayhem. 

During Maskare, the town council is overthrown by the Poklandni Odbor (The Committee of the Damned) - A haphazard bunch of men who swear themselves into power at an assembly (a very disorderly assembly at that) to which the entire town is invited to, depending on whether or not you're game enough to listen to their rants and raves. At this assembly the Pokladni Odbor annouce their damned manifesto to the public and the week of damned festivities beings. They also issue the Pokladni List (The Newspaper of the Damned) which highlights all the gossip and scandalous events which occured in Tisno over the past year, with embellishments included.

During that week, a soccer game between Tisno and Murter was held in at the school in Murter. We all went along to watch the boys make complete fools of themselves, which they certainly did not fail to do whist running around with middle-eastern kufiays on their heads, stipped boxer shorts with plastic bottoms adhered to the rear, which were all torn at the crotch by the end of the game. The entire audience were in absolute hysterics! With the Tisnjani definitely laughing the loudest.

Unfortunately, this year they did not hold a masquarade ball in Tisno (but there was one held in the town of Jezera, located just over the hill of Karavaj). However, Jurevisija was a great success, as always I'm told, and one of the most enjoyable and memorable nights of my entire year in Tisno. Jurevisija is a talent quest held in Tisno, open to any Tisnjani who wishes to enter. The idea of the talent quest, (which is dedicated to Jure, the 'mascot' of Maskare and is also the figurative 'being' responsible for all the damned occurances in town) is to take a song and alter it, ie change its lyrics, usually at the expence of people within the town, and of course to dress in masquerade. It was an extremely hilarious night, and I commend everyone who performed so excellently on the stage. I myself even got up with some friends (still trying to erase the embarassment of the minor wardrobe malfunction from my memory). After a bit too much partying, a few too many drinks by some to the point of where they were stacking three to four people on a wheelchair and wheeling them, or rather throwing them, around the hall, we stumbled home at God's knows what hour and in what state for that matter.

Tovari

The following day was the Maskare Parade, were the vast majority of the townspeople braved the icy weather to march through town in masquarade or do some other hilarious prank, ie arriving on a trailer in a jacuzzi (definitely the most original idea, as nothing less is every to be expected from the guys involved) or on a digger truck. The parade ended with a hot and hearty meal of pasta i fazol (a traditional pasta and bean soup), fresh bread and plenty of beer, nicely rounded off by a long general announcement in front of the entire town, which is aimed at individually embarrassing each and every person in town.

Fazol

We couldn't believe they turned up in a Jacuzzi!

The sea wouldn't have been more than a few degrees celcius

Lo

Covjece ne ljuti se!

After the parade in Tisno, I went with some friends to Murter to watch their parade, as I had been told that it is always a lot more impressive than the one in Tisno (and to tell the truth, it was - some of the costumes were absolutely amazing). The Murterini take Maskare extremely seriously, to the point of planning it and making costumes almost a year in advance and having the parade professionally filmed. The following photographs are taken in the town square of Murter.

Maskare in Murter

If you every happen to be insane enough to voluntarily spend the winter in Dalmatia, a stay in a small town during the festival of Maskare, usually held in at the beginning of February, is definitely an experience not to be missed.