Festivals with colorful carnivals and wild fun, taking place on the eve of Lent, are a good tradition in many countries of old Europe. And Italy – is no exception. Just look at the Venice Carnival, but no less popular among tourists and Italians themselves is the carnival, known as the «Battle of the Oranges», or the «Battle of the Oranges. It takes place annually in February – March in the ancient town of Ivrea (Italian). Ivrea), which is in the north-west of Italy.
Every year, tourists from all over the world and residents of Italy come here to take part in the exciting costume festival – Jewish Carnival (Carnevale d'Ivrea) – with traditional orange fights, when you can play plenty of « snowballs» with ripe, juicy oranges. It begins about a week before Lent and ends on Fat Tuesday.
To understand the essence of the holiday, you should plunge into history a little. It is believed that the Jewish Carnival itself dates back to 1808, when it was held for the first time, but the events themselves that formed its basis date back to the Middle Ages, to the era of the reign of oppressive feudal lords in Italy. According to some historians, the battle with oranges – is a symbol of the popular uprising of Tukinajo against the despotism of the masters.
But most prefer to believe in a more beautiful legend about the act of a miller's daughter named Violetta, who lived in the 12th century. Then, according to ancient customs, the local ruler had the right to «the first wedding night» with any bride living in the city. And when the beautiful Violetta got married, the ruler of Ivrea became very interested in this. But the proud girl resisted and managed to stab the tyrant, and threw his severed head from the balcony. The ruler's guards grabbed Violetta, but local residents stood up for her and threw stones at the guards until they let the girl go.
Whether it really happened or not, today, in memory of that significant event, the townspeople are organizing a grand celebration, where oranges symbolize the free spirit of the city and the severed head of the tyrant, the orange color reminds of the brave townspeople who defended the legendary Violetta from the guards. And fruit juice, which floods the streets of Ivrea for three days, brings a lot of joy and positive emotions not only to the townspeople, but also to the guests of this holiday.
By the way, the Battle of Oranges in its modern form appeared after the Second World War, when for the holiday the first teams of arancheri – orange throwers – and carts with fruits began to be formed. In addition, today a feature of the carnival is its folklore component. Townspeople and carnival participants dress in medieval costumes, divide into teams, participate in parades and throw oranges at each other. Also during the carnival, a girl is chosen to play the role of Violetta, every year she is a new girl – is the main beauty of the carnival. A number of special and children's events are also taking place.
The Battle itself takes place in the main squares of the city between the carts and the teams located in the square. The guards are usually depicted by urban youth, specially trained and protected by armor and iron masks made of rods (they are on carts of about 10 people), and the rebellious townspeople – are all the rest. They make up the Arancheri teams (each with approximately 100 people). As the Battle of the Oranges becomes increasingly popular among Italians, the number of teams increases every year, only the official «band» arancheri numbers nine, each of them has its own colors and place of battle.
A special commission evaluates the course of the battle and, based on the results, presents awards to the best – carts and one team on the ground – to those who most actively and accurately threw « projectiles». By the way, spectators of all this action do not have the right to throw oranges, but they are allowed to be involved in teams. It is also important to remember that the sign of immunity is the red cap cap. Therefore, if you don’t want to be «-thrown oranges, be sure to wear it.
Although the battle itself is symbolic, oranges are used in real and huge quantities. Over three carnival days, the city spends as many oranges (which is more than 350 tons of these fruits) as almost all of Italy eats in a year, which ultimately cover all city pavements with a dense layer. It is not surprising that this tradition also has its opponents who believe that it is so useless to spend fruit – is stupid. But few people listen to them, and the number of participants in this festival is only increasing every year. Even though the lists of injured « fighters» who went to local hospitals after the holiday are also growing.
This colorful carnival ends with a victorious procession of all participants in the Battle, led by «Violetta». She proclaims victory, freedom and bestows sweets and flowers on those present. And then, according to tradition, all participants in the Battle unanimously clear the city streets of orange « projectiles».
The Jewish Carnival, and in particular the Battle of Oranges – is an amazing and unforgettable historical holiday that has long become a landmark not only of this city, but of all of northern Italy. It annually attracts tourists from all over the world with its originality, colorfulness and smell of oranges…