Quarantine was made up by Venice in 1423, to go with the Black Death. Ships had to dock for forty days on a little island called Lazaretto, to make sure they were free of the plague before they were allowed to approach to the city proper. Quarantena means forty days.
Why forty days?
Because this is how long Jesus Christ spent alone in the wilderness. But Jesus was not technically alone because his friend The Devil kept him company. Was this cheating? No. It is actually within the rules to spend time with The Devil during quarantine.
Jesus and The Devil did many activities together to stay happy and healthy and to relieve the tedium of looking at the Dead Sea day after day. These activities are referred to as ‘temptations’. They included :
bread making
jumping off the temple roof
hill climbing
looking out over the whole wide world and playing - If I Owned It!
Given what we know about both Jesus and The Devil, it is likely that they also had a little kiss.
Pic: Juan de Flandes (1500)
Pic: Sandro Botticelli (1482)
Pic: Missal, France (1470)
What follows is a collection of activities and puzzles for you to try during your quarantine.
ODD ONE OUT
(Puzzle)
One of these masks was made for a real plague doctor. The others were made for the Venetian carnival, for people pretending to be plague doctors.
Can you tell which one was worn by a real doctor attending victims of the plague?
MASK MAKING
(Activity)
Follow these simple instructions and make a perfect mask to help keep you and the world safe.
Step 1: Draw out your pattern. Measure your nose to work out dimensions.
Step 2: Find UHU.
Step 3: Choose your herbs and spices. These can include carnation, mint, thyme, camphor, vinegar sponge.
Step 4: Cut out your pattern.
Step 5: Admire it.
Step 6: Find yogurt lids for the eyes, which you will have forgotten. These are vital to keep out the plague.
Step 7: Make your mask.
Step 8: Stuff the nose of the mask with your pre-prepared herbs.
Step 9: You are now ready, just like Charles de Lorme, personal physician to Louis XV of France.
If you have any problems at all or if you work for the government and want a job lot, do not hesitate to contact me via the link at the bottom of this page.
JOIN THE DOTS
(Puzzle - Advanced Level)
Only about 0% of people are able to complete this task. If you are struggling, click on the picture for a hint at to how to get started.
ODD ONE OUT
(Observation Exercise)
The list below catalogues the arrests and punishments meted out by the Florentine Health Department (La Sanità) during the Italian plague (1629-31).*
As you can see, men were nearly four times as likely to be punished for being out and about in the wrong way during lockdown.
Only one punishment category shows men and women being punished equally.
Can you spot which one it is?
INOSCULATION
(Imagination Exercise)
When taking a little personal exercise in the parks or the woods, look at the trees.
See if you can spot any that are inosculating. Inosculating means kissing. From the Latin word for kiss - osculum. When trees kiss they usually get really into each other and the kiss lasts for ages.
Imagine turning into a tree, like Daphne does in Ancient Greek myth.
STAYING AT HOME
(Physical Exercise)
Try staying at home as long as you can.
See if you can do better than these people who were arrested by the health police in Florence during the Italian Plague of 1630!
Giulia di Filippo (prostitute): Arrested by the Sanità for breaking quarantine and working at the home of a colleague. Sentenced to ride a donkey backwards through the city.
Lucrezia di Francescho Bianchi (prostitute): Arrested by the Sanità for visiting her friend Maria (the miller’s wife). They had arranged the clandestine visit by shouting to each other from the windows of their homes, which retrospectively may have been a bad idea.
Antonio di Matteo (cook): Arrested by the Sanità for standing in the street after curfew, at three o’clock in the morning, and chatting openly with a people at their windows. The officers in court noted he was not at legal distance - the windows were only two metres off the ground.
Antonio di Francesco Traballesi (unknown occupation): Arrested. In court, he explained, ‘Last Wednesday, I was walking towards Porta alla Croce, and when I was close, the widow Monna Maria, who was locked in her house by the Sanità, called out of the window and asked me how I was. I said to her that I was fine, and while I was talking to her the police officers came and took me to prison.’
Lorenzo Oberto Cavett (tailor): caught by the Sanità, with his head stuck in a hole of the door of a quarantined plague house, which turned out to be the home of his boss. He was later seen carrying a roll of cloth from the house. Imprisoned for the carrying of infected materials.
Six unnamed young Florentines: caught by Sanità breaking quarantine ‘in mezzo bordello’.
Maria di Giovanbattista, Francesca di Lorenzo and Laura di Stephano (unknown occupations): caught by the Sanità for being out of their own houses at the home of Maria’s brother, a priest. The corporal heard laughter, and caught the women dancing. The priest was on the stairs, wearing a carnival mask and playing the guitar. Unknown outcome.
SELF PORTRAITS
(Activity)
Thank you for doing the exercises and activities, which are going to help everyone so much.
We all have to do our bit.
SURVEY
*Source: Florence Under Siege: Surviving Plague in an Early Modern City by John Henderson.