The #issohadores, who are more nimble and faster paced, also use their lassos to try to capture women in the crowd, for whom being lassoed is seen as a good omen and a symbol of fertility.

#photography
#Sardinia
#festivals
#masks

Sardinia’s ancient masked rite of mamuthones and issohadores – in pictures

From mid-January until the end of carnival, #mamuthones and #issohadores take to the streets of Mamoiada, in the mountainous heartland of Sardinia. This is a time when herders and farmers across the Mediterranean turn to the power of masks to cast off winter and foster the coming of spring.

All photographs by Christian Sinibaldi

#photography
#Sardinia
#festivals
#masks