Young people, and yes, even adults, including me, seem to be obsessing over what to wear for Halloween.
Costume? Face paint? Mask?
No wonder the song “Masquerade” from "The Phantom of the Opera" keeps rattling around in my head:
"Masquerade!
Every face a different shade.
Masquerade!
Look around, there’s another mask behind you!"
But wearing a mask isn’t limited to the stage or to Halloween. Nature has been doing it far longer than we have.
Take the raccoon. That nighttime prowler is often called, for obvious reasons, a “masked bandit."
The dark fur around a raccoon’s eyes actually helps reduce glare and improve its night vision, just like the eye black athletes use to cut the reflection of bright sunshine or stadium lights.
And raccoons aren’t the only ones with natural eye black. Badgers wear it too. So do many birds, especially falcons. Those dark patches beneath their eyes help reduce sunlight glare and sharpen their vision as they dive at incredible speeds.
Facial markings can also serve as camouflage. They break up the outline of an animal’s face, helping it blend into its surroundings.
"Masquerade!
Hide your face, so the world will never find you!"
In "The Phantom of the Opera," the mask conceals pain, identity and vulnerability. In the natural world, masks are all about survival.
And maybe, when we humans don our gay apparel and paint our faces, we’re tapping into something ancient... a fascination with disguise, transformation and the mysterious power of the mask.
