We wear masks for many reasons: for fun, for protection, or to make a statement. In turbulent public settings, obscuring one's face can protect an individual from retaliation while evoking fear and uncertainty in others. With the recent rise of virtual reality technologies, masks are used to hide the real world from the wearer, whose face, in turn, is hidden behind the headgear. In many cases, though, masks play a more lighthearted role, allowing the wearer to take part in a festival and become someone (or something) else for a time. Once more, I've gathered a few recent images of people wearing masks, covering their faces for a wide variety of reasons.
The Masks We Wear
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Paper masks of Leicester's Jamie Vardy are laid out for the fans prior to kickoff during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Everton at The King Power Stadium on December 26, 2016 in Leicester, England. #
Laurence Griffiths / Getty -
A man wears a mask during Celtica, the festival of Celtic culture and traditions in the Bois-de-Peuterey in Val Veny, Courmayeur, near Aosta, Italy, on July 9, 2016. #
Marco Bertorello / AFP / Getty -
USA's Lex Gillette competes in the final of the Men's long jump (T11) event during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on September 8, 2016. #
Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty -
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A visitor pretends to nurse a baby with a Virtual Reality headset during the "Laval Virtual" virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D techonology show on March 22, 2017, in Laval, western France. #
Damien Meyer / AFP / Getty -
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An employee of Japan's jeweler Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry displays a pure gold life size mask of Darth Vader at their main shop in the Ginza shopping district in Tokyo on April 25, 2017. The pure gold mask will go on sale on May 4 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie. #
Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty -
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A masked reveller takes part in a spontaneous carnival characterised by improvisation, satire and the macabre, in the village of Ghaxaq, Malta, on February 27, 2017. #
Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters -
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This November 22, 2016 photo provided by the Gardner Police Department shows a person dressed in a gorilla costume that was captured on one of two motion-activated cameras intended to investigate reports of mountain lions at a park in Gardner, Kansas. Police discovered images of smaller animals as well as pranksters dressed as animals, monsters and Santa Claus, but no mountain lions were detected. #
Gardner Police Department via AP -
A woman adjusts her mask as she takes part in a 17-kilometer swim from Jordan to Israel across the Dead Sea, organized by the EcoPeace charity, aimed at raising awareness for the iconic water body which has been receding by roughly a meter each year, on November 15, 2016. #
Gali Tibbon / AFP / Getty -
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People throw turnips at the Jarramplas as he makes his way through the streets beating his drum during the Jarramplas festival in the tiny southwestern Spanish town of Piornal, Spain, on January 20, 2017. Dozens of people ran trying to pelt a beast-like figure representing a farm thief with, appropriately, tons of turnips. The so-called Jarramplas festival centers around a town resident dressed up in a colorful costume and a horned helmet. The Jarramplas has to dance around the village facing a vicious onslaught of oversized turnips hurled at him by mobs of locals. #
Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP -
South Korean rescue members wearing chemical protective suits participate in an anti-terror drill as part of a disaster management exercise at the COEX shopping and exhibition center in Seoul on May 20, 2016. #
Jung Yeon-Je / AFP / Getty -
Mike Derks, aka Balsac the Jaws of Death, left, and Brent Purgason, aka Pustulus Maximus of GWAR performs at Riot Fest & Carnival at Douglas Park on September 16, 2016, in Chicago. #
Rob Grabowski / Invision / AP -
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In this April 1, 2017 picture a man wears the traditional 'Tora' outfit used during the carnival during a gathering of different villages' carnival masks and characters in the small village of Casavieja, Spain, on April 3, 2017. #
Daniel Ochoa de Olza / AP -
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A reveler with wooden mask and carnival garb, during the traditional Celtic carnival 'Caretos' in Lazarim on February 27, 2017 in Lamego, Portugal. During the festivities, people in Lazarim wear special wooden masks made from alder trees by local carpenters. #
Octavio Passos / Getty -
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Ethnic Miao men wearing traditional masks smear dust on a woman's face to wish her good luck during a local celebration event for Lunar New Year in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, on February 5, 2017. #
Reuters -
Fifth-grade students of the General Yermolov Cadet School wear gas masks during their first military tactical exercise on the ground, which includes radiation resistance classes, forest survival studies and other activities, in Stavropol, Russia, on September 10, 2016. #
Eduard Korniyenko / Reuters -
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