You've probably seen these masks in movies, carnivals, video games, but it looks like it's a mask with like a bird's head and a beak. And on the sides of the beak, where these two slits where air could pass through the face was mostly covered, except the eyes where they had these holes that were sealed with glass. They also wore a long outer garment that wrapped tightly around the mask. So the theory behind this get up is that they were trying to protect themselves from the plague or what they c
alled “miasma.” They called it bad air. It wasn't clear if it was like, is it coming from you or is it coming from like just everywhere? Right. They don't know the origin of it. So the beaks in the masks, they filled with these strong smelling herbs and spices that were supposed to protect them from this quote unquote “bad air.” And the most common concoction was called theriac It was a compound of 55 different herbs. The beak size was believed to give enough room for the air too to be saturated
by the herbs before it could reach their mouth or nose. Why does it look like this terrifying bird? It's because even though they were men of science, they also believed that the plague could have been caused by spirits. So the idea was that this mask acted as a way to frighten off the spirits.
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Full episode here: https://youtu.be/5mRTbHoz2nA