In the light of the lanterns, the characters meet on the streets of Sauris in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and walk all together, while remaining clearly divided between beautiful and ugly. From the custom of being illuminated by the warm and dim light of the wicks comes the other name of the Sauris Carnival, also known as “The night of the lanterns.”
Costumes are very important in the preparation of the characters, but the peculiar characteristic of this Carnival is the wooden mask placed on the face.
The community of Sauris has revived the ancient tradition of the Saurano Carnival which preserved the customs and costumes of this particular German-speaking island.
The representation of the ancient carnival features the typical figures of the Rölar and the Kheirar, who govern the two groups of masks: the beautiful and the ugly.
The “Rölar” is a magical and demonic figure, with a face blackened by soot, who 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, 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 the clothing as imaginative and rough as possible) and “Scheana schembln” (beautiful masks, with charming local dresses) gathers from one hamlet to another, all with their faces strictly covered with a scarf or a wooden mask.
