il fuoco

Bagnaia

Two nights ago, despite still being exhausted from our Rome trip, a large group of us decided to go to a bonfire we heard about in one of Viterbo’s surrounding towns. We made it to the bus stop only minutes before the bus was supposedly departing. After waiting fifteen minutes we figured the bus must be running on “Italian” time and we would wait a few minutes longer. Well, after nearly an hour, half of the group decided to go back into town for dinner and then take a cab, and the rest of us decided to hike the five miles we were told it was to the town. A large mass of people walking along a highway where a speed limit might have been posted, but not reinforced, perhaps was not the best idea we Americans have had thus far. There were several instances I feared for my life as an automobile approached us in semi-darkness going well above 60 miles per hour. But I can say that we made it safely to the bonfire after what ended up being only a three and a half mile walk. When we arrived in Bagnaia’s town square, I could not believe what I saw:

The Italians do not mess around when they celebrate, they mean business. Toward the end of the night, this tower of dead trees was too hot to stand next to for any extended period of time because your face would begin to feel like it was melting right off of your bones. Not kidding.

At the beginning of the ceremony, when they were first lighting the huge mass of wood, an Italian man began reciting some type of ritual rite, in Italian of course, so I had no idea what was actually going on. And I am still not sure what this ceremony was actually commemorating/celebrating?! Hopefully by the end of my stay here I will be able to watch the video I took of this man and figure out what he was saying.

On the streets leading to the central mass of heat were little vendors selling their wares to those running away from the large pieces of ash floating in the air like confetti. I was able to browse many of the booths without even thinking about buying anything, but then succumbed at one table housing a variety of different owl shaped jewelry pieces. At another table I attempted to haggle with the owner over a hat, and even had a friend try to talk the price down, but we failed in our attempts. I did not buy the hat and am very glad I didn’t because I found 100% wool yard that I can make myself a hat out of while I am killing time between classes or riding a train to a nearby destination.

Another part of the ceremony we were not able to figure out was the symbolic importance of horses. There were these horse cookies:

 Everywhere and we felt that we had to buy at least one to fully capture the essence of the celebration. Honestly, the horse cookie was not very good and the look of it freaked me out with what looked like five legs instead of four. I am assuming the extra leg was actually supposed to be a tail….

When it came time to make the journey back to Viterbo, none of us wanted to part with the fire’s warmth.

I’m glad we were able to see this small town event because I feel that it has made my time here feel more real. I hope I will be able to attend more events such as this one because this is when you really see Italian culture come out.