The Historic
Carnival of
Ivrea is a carnival event institutionalized in 1808 on the basis of ancient and neighborhood festivals that takes place almost continuously since then in the picturesque town of
Piedmont. In relation to its tradition and to the events celebrated during the festival, mixing references to the
Napoleonic army and popular revolts, including the tuchinaggio , which took place in the
Canavese area in medieval times, its official name is "Historic Carnival Ivrea".
The Carnival of Ivrea is mainly characterized by the complex ceremonial folk dense evocations of historical and legendary , to the obligation imposed on all participants to wear a red hat , and the spectacular "
Battle of the Oranges" which has become the icon itself the carnival. The origins of the Carnival of Ivrea can be traced around the sixteenth century, when the party was being run in the rivalry between them, from the various districts of the city (represented by the parishes of
St. Maurice,
St. Lawrence, Sant'Ulderico,
San Salvatore and San
Grateful). Of this period remain some aspects of the ceremonial that have been preserved over time, as the
parade of "
Abba, which in those days were probably of dissolute young men, and that, in the "world upside down" typical of carnival celebrations, jokingly assumed the post of commander of the militia of the
Free City, and today their role is played by children chosen to represent the various districts then there is the rise and
Burning of the Scarli, with clear references to the fertility ritual, or tall wooden poles entirely covered with calluna dry. Carnival Monday, the last married couple in the ward tills, a pickaxe, the land where it will be stuck Scarlo, Tuesday evening as the closing ceremony of the carnival that gives way to
Lent the same Abba, accompanied by a procession with torches shall set it on fire to make a bonfire. The ancient tradition of carnivals rionali, in much of the Piedmont, was superseded in 1808 by the unification of the parties, wanted, for reasons of public policy, from the
Napoleonic authorities who governed the city.
The General in fact, born as a carnival figure dating back to this era its own, and that is evoking the
symbol of the municipal authority, who wears the uniform of the Napoleonic army and symbolically assumes the powers of management and order party. Since the nineteenth century, then, opened a phase of "historicization" of the Ivrea Carnival, linking the meaning of its celebration of the ideals of freedom, arrived in Piedmont with the
French Revolution. There is mention, in this regard , one of the elements that characterize most of the three days of celebration, namely the obligation for all participants worth the risk of becoming the target of " pretty orange throwing " wearing red
Phrygian cap , as a revolutionary icon made famous by
Marianne and the sans-culottes of
Paris. Even the uniforms jackets and pants with the colors blue and red, black leather boots, sword at his side and feathered feluche worn by the "
Chiefs", the officers placed under the orders of
General, are of the same Napoleonic army
Similar uniforms carry the four "Sutler" which, in the three day festival on Thursday Friday-Saturday, parade on horseback along with the Staff. The historical study of the event, however, took it upon himself to try to go back to times long before the French Revolution, in the origins of the anxiety of freedom and struggle against tyranny, and placing them in the events that affected medieval Ivrea. The key to romantic, from the nineteenth century, was given to the medieval period, it connotò in a ceremony in memory of the riots against tyranny. In 1858 at the height of the manifestation of the ideals of the
Risorgimento you said the presence of the figure of the miller's wife, the protagonist of the entire event , represented by a city appointed annually, which overlooks the balcony of
City Hall on Saturday evening ceremonies. The figure of the miller's wife is apparently inspired by the legend of a certain
Violetta, the young daughter of a miller of the town ( name , however, widespread only since the nineteenth century), dragged into the so-called "Castellazzo" here and forced to marry the evil tyrant, also decided to reclaim law jus de seigneur.
- published: 04 Mar 2014
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