In the light of the lanterns, the characters meet in the streets of Sauris in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and walk all together, while remaining clearly distinct between beautiful and ugly. The custom of being illuminated by the warm and dim light of the wicks gives rise to the other name of the Sauris Carnival, also known as “The night of the lanterns“.
The costumes are very important in the staging of the characters but the peculiar feature of this Carnival is the wooden mask placed on the face.
The community of Sauris has revived the ancient tradition of the Sauran Carnival which has preserved the customs and costumes of this particular German-speaking enclave.
The representation of the ancient carnival features the typical figures of the Rölar and the Kheirar who regulate the two rows of masks: the beautiful and the ugly.
The “Rölar” is a magical and demonic figure, with a face blackened by soot and warns people to prepare for the masquerade.
The “Kheirar” is the king of the masks: his face hidden by a wooden mask, he wears tattered clothes and holds a broom in his hand, which he uses to knock on the doors of the houses he wants to enter.
From early afternoon, under the guidance of these two main figures, a procession of “Scheintena schembln” (ugly masks, with clothing as imaginative and rough as possible) and “Scheana schembln” (beautiful masks, with fancy local clothes) gathers from hamlet to hamlet, all with their faces strictly covered with a handkerchief or a wooden mask.
