Festa della Marie- Carnevale 2015

The Festa della Marie, one of the main Carnevale events, is a re-enactment of an old traditional ceremony  took place yesterday, February 7 in Venice. 

As far back as the 9th century, Venetians blessed all the marriages that took place during the year at a ceremony on February 2, the day of the Purification of Mary. This ceremony took place at the cathedral of San Pietro in Castello. Also blessed were the marriages of 12 girls from poorer local families, who were each given a dowry from a wealthy family of the city and outfitted with jewels from the treasury of St. Mark's. The generic name of "Marie" was bestowed on each of these 12 girls. 

In 973, during this celebration, a band of pirates kidnapped the girls, absconding both the girls and all the jewels. Outraged, locals took off after the pirates, managed to find them, recovering the gems and returning the girls to safety. The Festa della Marie was created to thank the Virgin for her intercession in saving the girls and to commemorate the victory over the pirates.

Each year the 12 girls would be dressed and adorned in jewels for this parade from San Pietro in Castello. Eventually the real girls were replaced by wooden plaques, know as Marie de tola or Marie di legno. Another nickname for the wooden Maries was Marione.  These were cheaper- no dowry needed. Smaller versions of the Mariones were called Marionettes- yes, this is where the word Marionette stems from. 

In 1349, the Republic of Venice enacted a law prohibiting throwing fruit and other objects at the Mariones during this parade. Thirty years later, in 1379, the entire Festa was abolished.

Today in Venice, the Festa della Marie is a re-enactment of this traditional celebration commemorating the victory over the pirates in 973. A few weeks prior to Carnevale, a pageant is held during which  twelve local young women are selected by a panel of judges.  These girls, the "Maries" attend all of the important Carnevale  balls and events, representing the city. During the days of Carnevale, the local citizens may vote on their favorite girl, with the winner being  the " Marie" of the year. In recent years, whoever the winning Marie is becomes the Angel who will descend from the Campanile to the far end of Piazza San Marco during the Flight of the Angel the next year. 

So, now we have a little understanding about what the whole Festa della Marie is about. Let's get on with the parade!

 The 12 Maries  leaving the Telecom building near Rialto on their way to San Pietro in Castello for the beginning of the Festa della Marie parade.

 Each of the girls are wearing stunning gowns created by Pietro Longhi, one of Venice's talented costume designers.

While the parade makes its way from San Pietro towards San Marco, locals in Castello await the entourage at Via Garibaldi.   This happy band of singers belting out traditional Venetian tunes kept the crowd entertained during the wait.

Flag throwers lead the entourage. 

The 12 Maries ( and wooden Mariones ) are introduced to the public.

After a toast to the Maries, the parade assembles again, ready to carry the Maries to the Doge at St.Mark's square.

The Marie's entourage includes groups dressed in historic garb from neighboring cities, such as Trieste, Verona an  Conegliano.

Each girl is lifted onto a litter, carried by young gondoliers and other litter bearers. 

The wooden Marie de tola's bring up the rear of the real Marie's. 

You know what they say about Location, location, location?  I've watched the Festa della Marie numerous times from dead center in St. Mark's square. I've watched it from along the Riva degli Schiavoni, the main street leading from Via Garibaldi in Castello to St. Mark's Square.  I have to tell you, for me, there isn't a better spot to enjoy this Carnevale event than to be right on Via Garibaldi where the Marie's make a stop to be introduced to the local citizens.   It's here in Castello where today you find Venetians living. And here is where they celebrated their Carnevale yesterday, not the Carnevale of 100,000 tourists jammed into Piazza San Marco.  There weren't more than a few hundred spectators at this end of Venice yesterday, but the numbers didn't matter. It was the spirit that was important. Location, location, location.

A very tiny Carnevale fun fact

Carnevale 2015 officially began last weekend with the Festa Veneziana- a two day fun festival designed for locals, scheduled before the masses of tourists from all over the world descend upon Venice for the big events.

Not much Carnevale transpired  in the days between Festa Veneziana and today, kind of the lull before the storm - and that's a good thing because  all of Venice spent the week battling what seemed like endless acqua alta (high water), rain and high winds. Between now and February 17, Venice will be teeming with tourists, many donning elaborate costumes and masks participating in both masquerade balls and daily costume contests in St. Mark's Square.  

When you think of Carnevale, thoughts usually turn to masks, costumes, elegant balls and parades.  I thought I'd focus on something much smaller, almost inconsequential, but yet fundamental to Carnevale. Confetti. 

You cannot escape confetti during Carnevale.  It is one of the harbingers of the season. When I begin to see a bit of it in the streets, usually beginning around 3 weeks before, I know it won't be long before Carnevale is here.  And before long, all the streets are covered with it.

                                               

Confetti can be purchased in every Tabacci shop for around 1 Euro per bag. Any self-respecting Venetian child wouldn't be caught dead without their own supply, at the ready to be thrown at friends, parents, nonna and nonno, dogs, strangers.  Well, at  anyone or anything, it doesn't really matter. The stuff  just has to be thrown. 

Batman and big sister are armed with bags of the stuff, and Mom is even carrying a back-up supply  when theirs run out. 

Its one of those little things that just make you happy when you see it. You just can't help yourself. 

I see confetti every year, stuck in cracks all over Venice from January to March. I don't know why this year was any different, but for some reason  I started to wonder about confetti. Who thought up confetti in the first place?  Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, provided answers. I thought I'd share some fun facts with you.

 All over northern Italy as far back as the middle ages, crowds threw things at Carnevale parades.  Things like balls of mud, eggs, coins and fruit. Earliest documentation of this tradition is traced to Milan in the 14th century. In 1597 throwing objects at Carnevale events was banned by the Governor of Milan, Juan Fernandez de Velasco (just in case you get this question during a game of Trivial Pursuit).  The tradition was revived during the 1700's, however the eggs and mud balls were replaced with candy coated coriander seeds. Coriander was a common plant in this region at the time.  And- just so you know- Coriandoli (the Italian word for Coriander) is what confetti is called in Italy.

So how did we go from candies to paper pieces? In 1875 Enrico Mangili, a Milanese businessman, started selling paper discs to throw at Carnevale.  At this time, Milan was a large manufacturer of silk. Mangili collected the small punched paper circles that were the leftovers from paper sheets used by silkworm breeders as cage bedding, and sold them- at a profit, of course! Mangili's paper confetti made a pretty big hit, being less harmful, more fun, and a lot less expensive than the other objects being used at the time.  It didn't take long before paper confetti became the object of choice all over Northern Italy. And there you have it- the birth of paper confetti.

One more little tidbit- the word Confetti is used in Italian, but it refers to candy coated Jordan almonds, which also used to be thrown at Carnevale, but today are more commonly given out at weddings, baptisms and graduations.

So there you have it- a little fun fact about Carnevale, and two new words to add to your Italian vocabulary : Coriandoli and Confetti.

Admit it,  it does make you smile, doesn't it?