From looking at the picture you may see some old creepy mask, and believe me for the longest time I did too but when I learned about the history behind the mask, I eventually thought it was pretty cool.  When I was little I never understood why we had these venetian masks in my house, mainly because I was scared of them. Eventually when I got older, I started to get more curious about where my family was from and made the decision to take Italian in the 7th grade. In that class we started to learn about the Italian festival Carnevale.  As soon as my teacher began to teach the lesson I immediately drew a connection to this topic because I started to realize the creepy masks at my house actually held a purpose. Therefore, when I went home that day I had asked my nonna about the festival, her ancestors, and of course the masks. My family has a total of 6 venetian masks but only one of them has a meaning to it. Ultimately she told me that it was given to her by her mom, who is my great grandma. Although, she was born in Italy, she immigrated to the United States, she returned for a vacation and had bought it when her family visited Venice on a vacation. She still held onto this mask after all these years to hold Italy close to her heart. It wasn’t until 2003, when I was born that she passed down the mask to me.  Everytime I look at it on the shelf now, I remember what my nonna told me and when I am older and have kids, I hope to pass it down to uphold the tradition and keep the story alive.

– Dani Grossman

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more