August 2004 Feast Days at Torricella By Antonio Piccoli, August 2004
As always, on the first day there is the band, with the "procession of the conche1" and the torchlight procession (fiaccolata2) along the Corso3 (main road); on the second day there is procession of the Saints, the orchestra and the fireworks to conclude the feast days. A rumour went round Torricella this year that there was the risk that they would not hold it because of some misunderstandings with the parish priest, but then, luckily these were settled reasonably. And since there wasn’t sufficient time to collect the citizens’ offerings, the feasts were carried out in a reduced manner. Anyway, the essential things, that make it typical in the surroundings, were all there. The morning of 12th August, all of Torricella was awakened by the din of very loud bangs. It was the official opening of the celebrations. To wake up to the bang of the first shot, to appear at the window, rubbing ones eyes at the clarity and brightness of the morning light of August, to feel the fresh air and hear the frightened dogs barking, the pigeons fluttering on the roofs, and to cap it all the notes of the band marching along the village streets, let me tell you, it brings tears to my eyes. I don’t know, but one feels good there. All the morning then, with the band playing along the Corso and through the various districts – that is something which cheers the soul.
At 10 in the evening there is the classic torchlight procession. Suddenly
all the lights of the illuminations in the Corso were turned off, it became
completely dark and at the same time the first torches were lit,
After the fireworks, Let us also say that a feast without a band is not a feast. The second day then there was the more religious phase with a Mass
In the evening then to close in beauty, apart from the fireworks lit on the sports field, very beautiful this year too, although slightly lower down due to certain regulations laid down by the Firefighters, there was an exhibition by a folk orchestra of Abruzzan music, the folk group from Altino5, who made so many people dance until two in the morning with Tarantellas, Mazurkas and Saltarellos6. What more could one want? These are village feasts. And we are very fond of them.
Translator's notes: 1 Conca – conche (plural) copper vessels for carrying water or grain – typically in the olden days carried by ladies balanced on the head, (no hands!); now carried between pairs of young girls 2 Fiaccolata – A procession, at night, illuminated by torches carried by the participants 3 Corso – the main road 4 Gioia del Colle – a small inland town in the fertile plains of the Province of Puglia (the heel of Italy) about halfway between Bari and Taranto; population 26,500. 5 Altino – a village built in medieval times, set on a fertile hilltop near the confluence of the Aventine and Sangro Rivers; sacked by brigands after the fall of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies (in the 1860’s); population 2,500. 6 Saltarello – an Italian and Spanish dance for one couple, with sudden skipsTranslation courtesy of Dr. Marion Apley Porreca |