Calendimaggio di Assisi
May 2, 2018 7:46 AM Subscribe
Continuing with the May Day theme, today is the first day of the Calendimaggio festival in Assisi, Italy. Although a celebration of the city's medieval past, the festival in its current form only dates back to 1954 (here are archival photos from each year of the festival). The Calendimaggio is structured around a competition between the "upper" (Parte de Sopra) and "lower" (Parte de Sotto) factions of the city -- a callback to the rivalry between supporters of the Pope and supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor that consumed medieval Italy -- and features singing, drumming, dancing, parades, tug-of-war, archery, and many other activities. Here's a documentary about the festival from 2010. And you can view this year's festival live on YouTube.
Forgot to include this video, which is in English and thus is probably a better introduction than the unsubtitled Italian one in the OP.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:59 AM on May 2, 2018
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:59 AM on May 2, 2018
« Older Randall Jarrell reads The Death of the Ball Turret... | 'Cause I don't wanna work anymore Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:21 AM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]