Carnevale e' arrivato!

The carnival season has arrived! Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, we came home and found that parking along the street of our house would be impossible. Traffic was insane, there were crowds so thick it made driving difficult, and we faced oncoming traffic (yeah, they were confused and going the wrong way) in a small one way road. Finally we arrived at our house and parked inside the gate. Living so close to the Parco della Pellerina is both a blessing and a curse. One one hand, we are close to all the exciting events that take place there, from the various circuses and festivals, fairs, and amusement parks which the boys love, but... we are close to it, so we bear the brunt of the massive influx of humanity that also goes there. Parking on the sidewalks and in the middle of the roads becomes common, and the noise! Loud noises in the middle of the night. I have prior experience with this though, from last year, and keep a pair of earplugs near my bedside.
After some time at home, we heard lots of booming music, but we thought it was simply "Luna Park" an amusement park just across the road where we planned to take the boys after a comfortable "digestion" period that we needed after our excellent lunch.
I was in the kitchen putting away some dishes, when I saw a pink dragon go floating by on the road below the house, bordering the park. I stepped out on the balcony and discovered it was a parade going by.
We all put our coats on and made our way outside to join the fun.

This is Gianduja, the King of Carnevale here in Torino. You can read more about him here.

I am not sure exactly what this charming float filled with "Chimney sweeps" of Mary Poppins had to do with Carnevale... although it is a mystery that I am sure I could have solved if first I had enjoyed a beer or two.

This is an example of the confetti that covered that covered the streets and people, like colored snow. Actually, from here on out, I will refer to it as coriandoli, the Italian word for confetti. After all you know, "When in Rome..."

Matthew was amazed when among all the people standing along the side of the road, a clown walked up to him and took his bright green pom pom and started brushing the coriandoli off Matthew. They stared solemnly at each other. After all this work of cleaning Matthew, the clown grinned and...

dumped a large handful of coriandoli all over Matthew's head. (I can't quite believe that I managed to catch that moment!) That was simply luck.

Despite the cold there were many ladies in skimpy costumes that I felt very sorry for! It is one thing to parade around in a warm country, but here in January? Brrrrrrrr!

The children, although in costumes, were also bundled up warmly. Matthew shyly gathered coriandoli from the road with some girls around his age and then they pelted each other with it. It was nice to see the Torinese (people of Torino) so animated and smiling. After dark, the parade finally was over. We walked back up the hill, tried to remove as much coriandoli as possible, and went inside our warm home.

Later, we heard some loud booming! What was that? We went out on one of the balconies and saw this beautiful firework display.

La Befana

Today was the day of La Befana.

There are different legends about her...

One of these, says that there was an old woman who was asked by the three kings about the road to Bethlehem. She indicated the road and asked the three kings why they were looking for that place, and the three kings explained who they were looking for.

She decided to go with them, but she was late because she was looking for some candies for baby Jesus in her home, and when she came back outside the three kings were gone. She went to Bethlehem anyway to see this baby, but she didn’t know how to find him. So she began to give these candies to any child she met. And from that moment she was the one who brought candies to children.

My own two boys are thrilled at another chance for candies, and goodies after Christmas and the holiday for the New Year.

The Befana brings candy to good children, or coal to bad boys and girls. Sound familiar? In fact here in Italy, boys and girls don’t receive stockings from Santa Clause or even Babbo Natale (as he is better known here), but on January sixth they receive stockings full of these things from the Befana.

Last year I was amazed. The Befana looks like a scarey witch, (not in the above picture because I picked a cute one) who seems much more in keeping with a Halloween holiday, than anything to do with Christmas. But believe me, she is much adored and loved here.

So my two boys miss out on Christmas stockings, but they aren’t missing a thing. Even if we forgot the holiday with the Befana... the nonni would make sure that she stopped by our house with a couple big stockings of candy.

This year I managed to get with it a bit more, I am learning a whole new life after all. And according to the kids, what is not to love about the Befana? Hmmm....

An old woman bearing gifts or candy and stockings who flies on a broom? Or a jolly old man in red who flies by reindeer? Never let it be said that I am too old to adjust!

What we have here...

... is the effect of staying up past mid night to wish each other a "Buon Anno!" Poor sleepy puppies! So everyone napped frequently New Years day. We are off to a sleepy start for 2007.