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     The Carnival of Offida

     THE ORIGINS of the Carnival are lost in the mists of time. Carnival recalls the religious festivals of the ancient people that celebrated New Year and the start of Spring, in the hope that the Gods would smile.

     IN OFFIDA'S Carnival we find traces of the ancient Greek Bacchanalia and the Roman Saturnalia (with its agricultural origins) that took piace from the 1st of December to the 23rd, during which all public activities were suspended. People set aside their social differences and, with unbridled joy, held processions, masquerades and banquets where they exchanged gifts.

     THE CARNIVAL takes place every year according to a ritual fixed by tradition. On "The Sunday of Friends", two weeks before Carnival, the brass band "Congrega dei Ciorpento" (the band of the snake) goes out from the front door of the l6th century building "Mercolini" and announces that the time of Carnival has arrived. Then there are masked balls at the theatre of the "Golden Snake", the hunting of "lu bov fint"  (the false ox), and, on the iast day, the spectacular parade of the "Vlurd".

     TOURISTS and people from nearby villages come to Offida not only to watch the parades of floats, but to participate in the whole festival, leaving behind their inhibitions. They are obliged to enjoy themselves-becoming actors in highly symbolic performances, driven by instinct and spontaneity.

     ON TUESDAY, the last day of the Carnival, people appear from everv corner, get dressed up in the "guazzarò" (a long white "habit" with a red scarf around the neck), and dye their faces various colours. They run about the square howling, dancing, joking and throwing confetti.

     YOU CAN MEET the various groups of costumed musicians: the "Ciorpento", the "Ciuvetta", the "Mangusta", the "Tirolesi", the "Riccio" and "Lu pa co l'oj" - who, with the blast of their trumpets, give life to street theatre with farcical scenes representing virility and fertility.

     THEN, in the evening, the spectacular parade of the "Vlurd" commences.

     IN SINGLE FILE, hundreds of masked men and women, carry long flaming bundles of reeds on their backs. They stagger, shout and dance wildly down the main street, like a long, serpent of flame.

     THEY PUT the flaming "Vlurd" in the middie of the central square and run around the bonfire, as if crazy, their howls and songs mixing with the whirling smoke and showers of sparks that fill the air.

     WHEN the pagan fire is finally spent, silence returns, in anticipation of the peace of lent.
 
 

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