That’s why Asians are obsessed with surgical masks
In the area east of the Asian continent, wearing a mask in front of the mouth is almost a century old practice (from Dude Mag)
“The daily use of the mask, generally worn by the surgeon in the operating room so as not to transmit germs and bacteria to the patient, is affirmed in Japan after the end of the terrible flu epidemic in the winter of 1934.
Covering one’s mouth becomes the manifestation of their boundless courtesy: the mask was used to avoid the transmission of germs through coughs, but also to identify who was sick and distinguish him from who was healthy.
in the 1950s, the habit of wearing the mask throughout the year spread, due to the high rate of pollution in cities due to industrial recovery. At the same time he crosses the Japanese borders to land in the neighboring countries, grappling with the same problems as Japan.
However, superstitions related to air and wind are very old throughout the Far East, and the attitude to protecting the airway seems to be much more ancient than any scientific innovation in medicine. Behind all this therefore, there may also be the legacy of ancient traditional Chinese medicine, according to which breathing and the respiratory act are central elements of a good psycho-physical condition.”
Keep reading Perché gli asiatici sono fissati con le mascherine chirurgiche on Dude Mag (the article was published in 2014 and it is only in Italian).
All the suggestions of #I STAY AT HOME but I don’t give up the culture (article in Italian only)
