E-mail: viola-fiorello@mail.ru
Moscow, Russian Federation
Independent researcher
Traditional festive culture of Lombardy, which has been previously considered as uninteresting and doomed to extinction, is reviving recently. It is developing, sometimes in unexpected ways, getting adapted to new circumstances and needs of the local population. Ritual acts of the winter-spring transition period, that have survived up to now, include the custom of kindling bonfires on St. Anthony’s day (the 17th of January), as well as the rites of burning of Giobiana the stuffed witch on the last Thursday of January, of “invocation of herb” on the first Thursday or the first day of March, of expulsion of the winter on the last day of January or March. There in remote areas of the region, ceremonialism of the winter-spring transition period is most closely associated with agricultural occupation of the vernacular population and involves members of the community directly. There in the industrial and handicraft centers in the north of the region, youth street processions related with winter-spring transition rites are merging with local carnival festivities. Due to assistance of local authorities and non-governmental organizations, these pageants present vivid mass celebrations. Carnivals are the most studied phenomena of folk spiritual culture of Italy and, in particular, of Lombardy region, and they are experiencing a revival everywhere in the country. These events adhere the tradition more (in the alpine and pre-alpine zones) or less close (in industrial centers and large cities, including Milan). In case of intervention or promotion by the authorities the event turns into the form of organized, pre-planned spectacle. Most likely it is the socio-cultural environment of a large city that will serve as a breeding ground for emergence of new forms of popular festive culture and for transformation of the old ones.
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