"Burn it all."
Where I lived in Southwest Germany, they had a festival called 'The Burning of the Witch' and they burned a metaphoracal witch like in medieval times. This Italian festival reminded me of that. What a sweet little world we have carved out for ourselves when being a Pagan pyromaniac can be so joyously celebrated.
After a series of religious celebrations, a Mass is conducted on the afternoon of the 16th. Then, a life-size statue of the Saint is carried from the Church in a procession throughout the town, finally reaching the Piazza and entering the shadow of the Focara. The structure is built with a narrow corridor in the middle. The procession passes through it and ends at the very top of the Focara, where the effigy is placed on a bed of orange tree branches. The bonfire is set ablaze at 8pm, and burns through the night. The festival continues on the 17th, a day of satire throughout which meat is shunned. The 18th of January is the feast day, which marks the conclusion of the Focara.
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-focara-of-novoli-a-truly-epic-bonfire.html#more-28085
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4 comments:
The Germans burn an effigy of a witch and the Catholic Italians burn a statue of a saint? WTF?
Every year the British burn an effigy of a guy who tried to kill the king over 400 years ago. Talk about holding a grudge.
Back in the late 50s, early 60s here in Tucson, we would have a giant Christmas tree burning in the school yard a couple of weeks after Christmas. For every tree you brought in, you got a ticket for a free ride at this Christmas carnaval they had. We would save up our used bubblegum all year to make a giant ball of buublegum to throw in. It was the greatest thing. The whole neighborhood would show up. They haven't done that for 40 yrs., more's the pity.
The days of parking lot arson parties have long since passed, my friend.
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