Context accounts for so much. In the right context, even the most outlandish costume looks appropriate, and an everyday outfit can look out of place. Last month, much of the world celebrated Carnival or Mardi Gras, leading up to the Lenten period which marks the 40 days and nights before Easter. In Germany, they celebrate Fasnacht on the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins, with lots of parades, sugary treats, and silly costumes. Which is where today’s Photo of the Day comes in, captured by Flickr user Taylor McConnell. These gentlemen from Wiesbaden, southwest of Frankfurt, are wearing remnants from their Fasnacht costumes. Earlier, they were likely surrounded by other revelers in multicolored wigs and sparkly pasties, but sitting in a bar, they just look odd. On the same day in New Orleans or Rio, there were probably similar groups of oddly dressed characters relaxing after many days of all-night partying. Context can be everything, and what a difference a day makes.
Even before Filippo Prior rides into the ancient piazza on the back of a horse-drawn carriage, he feels the giddy adrenalin rush of battle and the unnerving fear that comes with the knowledge that he and his teammates are about to get pelted with hundreds of cold, hard oranges.
“You hear the roar of the crowd, people screaming before you enter the piazza,” says Prior, a 21-year old member of the Cavalry of the Tricolore, a carriage team which competes in Italy’s annual Battle of the Oranges, a pre-Lenten carnival in Ivrea, near Turin. “It’s scary. You have a helmet but you can’t see anything because oranges are flying at you from all angles.”
The Battaglia delle Arance is a three-day orgy of orange-throwing insanity that is part of an ancient six-day carnival that attracts some 100,000 spectators and 4,000 participants to the small northern Italian city of Ivrea each February. The event, which begins today, appears to be unregulated mayhem but it’s actually highly structured and has deep historical significance.
The carnival commemorates a 12th century rebellion that was sparked by Violletta, a commoner who cut off the head of a tyrannical lord who tried to enforce the custom of taking her virginity on her wedding night. For centuries, carnivals-goers in the town threw beans at each other because feudal lords used to bestow two pots of them per year on poor people in the town. The bean-throwing was meant to signify their disdain for the handouts, but was also good fun.
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But in the mid-nineteenth century, the tradition gradually changed as young women adopted the custom of standing on balconies and pelting boys they fancied from above with oranges. If the boys liked their attacker, they returned fire. These days, the city trucks in 57,000 crates, or 400 tons worth of oranges from Southern Italy that would otherwise be thrown away for use in the battle.
Dozens of carriage teams on horse-drawn carts, signifying the tyrant’s guards, compete against nine “foot” teams, representing the rebellious commoners. The carriage players are completely surrounded and outnumbered, so these participants have to be either very brave, or very pazo (crazy), preferably both.
“On the wagon, you have only eight people and you are throwing oranges against 400-500 people at a time- you are completely under siege,” says Prior, an Ivrea native who has been competing in the battle since he was 12. “You get hit everywhere- on the helmet, the arms, the chest, your hands.”
According to Prior, each carriage player competes for just one of the three days in the battle due the vicious nature of the combat.
“The next day your arms are purple- completely covered in bruises from getting hit so many times,” he says. “There is no way you could do all three days.”
The local authorities set up first aid tents around the five piazzas used for the event, each one is “defended” by a different foot team. The organizers say that no one has ever suffered a severe injury and some view getting a black eye or a bruise on the face as a badge of courage. Spectators wear red berets to signify themselves as non-combatants but still get hit with stray fire. The splattered oranges and horse droppings create a colossal mess that’s eventually cleaned up by a team of 100 workers.
On Fat Tuesday, a team of judges give awards to the foot and carriage teams based upon their throwing ability, costumes and adherence to rules, such as not hitting the horses with oranges. The festival concludes with a huge procession, which culminates with a likeness of a sword-weilding Violetta presiding over a burning scarlo, a pole covered in heather and juniper bushes. The crowd goes wild, cheering for the scarlo to burn as quickly as possible. A quick burn is an omen that the coming year will be a good one; a slow burn means trouble is on the way.
The teams have been together for decades, but foreign visitors are welcome to join if they pay a registration fee. But Prior has a word of advice for newcomers.
“Definitely wear old clothes and shoes, because all your things will be ruined.”
Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday are one in the same. And if you follow Shrove Tuesday’s pancake-eating rituals, your Tuesday this week is bound to feel fat. Otherwise known as Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent. Lent is a Christian tradition and the term is used to describe the liturgical year, the time of fasting and prayer between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
This practice was widely embraced before the Protestant Reformation. Although many Protestant churches still practice Lent, some do not. Growing up, my family switched between Pentecostal, Nazarene, and Baptist churches–I never practiced Lent. And since the practice involved giving up something I liked, I was happy not to participate. But pancakes? Fat Tuesday? I’ll eagerly dig in for these kinds of festivities each year.
With Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day happening tomorrow, the internet is abuzz with pancake recipes for this day of decadence. Thinking about whipping up some pancakes tomorrow? Here’s a little somethin’ to help you along the way.
Consider Pancakes, an informative article on Pancake Day and the pancakes involved by The Guardian.
And for perfectly thin pancakes for Pancake Day, The Guardian offers up this delicious-looking recipe:
“This is the approximate recipe we use at home for thin, crêpe-style pancakes. The batter will thicken as it rests, so if necessary gently stir in more milk until it’s the consistency of single cream. Makes about 20.
200g plain flour 3 eggs, lightly beaten About 500ml milk A knob of butter or a little vegetable oil, for frying Lemons and caster sugar, for serving
Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat in the eggs and enough milk to make a batter that’s the consistency of single cream.
Heat a frying pan until very hot. Add the butter or oil and wipe off any excess with a wad of kitchen paper. Add a ladle of batter, tipping and tilting the pan so it’s evenly coated. The underside is done when you can lift it to see its golden underside. Flip or toss it over and cook the other side for barely a minute. Place on a warmed plate while you repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve with lemons and caster sugar”.
Before today, I knew of only one other celebration centered on a fish. During the Walleye Drop on New Year’s Eve in Port Clinton, Ohio, townsfolk drop a walleye. Not a real walleye–one made out of some sort of fiberglass material. Here’s another case of fish frivolity. This Mad Culture video depicts the Burial of the Sardine in Madrid. The celebration, attended by folks of all ages, is connected to the end of Mardi Gras. The mood is fun and festive complete with people dressed in costumes, some carrying images of sardines.
Burial Of The Sardine Madrid from Phillip Stark, Ben Dornan, Justin Metz, and Karina Stenquist of RedHill Media (a new production house in Madrid, Spain specializing in travel videos) on Vimeo.
The sardine burying tradition, according to what I found out here, came about in 19th century when some students in Madrid wanted to recreate a pagan holiday connected to the allegorical characters Don Carnal and Doña Cuaresma. The symbolism has something to do with carnal pleasures over moderation. The festival has since spread throughout Spain, and does indeed involve burying a sardine. The video explains it all.