For weeks my little city of Ivrea has been preparing for the Carnival. As in putting up nets all over the city, and posters and flags, and parades!
The first day of Carnival was rather like Halloween. Everyone dressed up and made their way to the centre of the city. There there was a ton of people dancing to music and partying. There was so much life. Everyone was happy and it was crazyness! This was probably the best night of the whole carnival in my opinion. I've never seen anything like it!
Then again the day after was the same thing, except everyone dressed up in their teams uniforms. Again it was very fun (: So many memories made!
Then came the orange battle. For 3 days. This was pure crazyness. Right outside my house there was a battle. Even if you were wearing your little red cap to indicate you were innocent, you still had to watch out because oranges flew everywhere! It didn't matter if you were throwing or not. At one point, i was standing behind the 'safety' net and a orange came and whipped me in the stomach. haha. During the Carnival they served hot sweet wine. It was really tasty.
Everyone would stop throwing at random points and start screaming "munyaya!" I definitely think I spelled that wrong but it's pronounced 'moon-ya-ya' which means the orange queen was coming. Everyone took pictures of her and shook her hand. Also when there were parades during the battle, everyone stopped and got candy that the queen and little princesses and princes threw at the crowd.
After each battle everyone was covered in orange. Everyone. Their hair was dripping wet. Even after I had taken a shower I still found pieces of orange in my hair. People tended to wear their orange mess as a badge of honor. The streets were absolutely covered in oranges. Or more like really pulpy orange juice. So many oranges, and the street outside my house was the worst. Walking the oranges went half way up my calf. Yum.
After it was all said and done, I was a little sad. But then I realized I will probably be coming back to this Carnival for years to come!
I will update more I promise ya'll! (:
3 comments:
Buon Giorno Jocelyn!
I'm going to be going to Italy for an exchange in September! What's it like? Was the language course AFS provides in Rome helpful? (I think there is one) How long did Ivrea smell like oranges. :) I hope you're having fun, sounds like it. Parties and legal drinks ^_^ sounds great. But I bet the people are amazing!!! Well anyways, have a great day!
ciao!
Jocelyn,
This carnival sounds like a blast! I hope to see more pics at some point. Does everyone "play"...people going to work, grandma's and grandpa's?
I had so much fun catching up on your blog.. You need to write more. So do it!!
Adeliza: ciaoo. do you know where you are going? it's a great experience! there isn't a language course in rome, but there is one in your local chapter. i find them helpful but normally we are just talking together now. it smelled like oranges for about a week and there were still oranges on trees and buildings for about a month if not more! and yes the people are so bright and nice!
aunt mary: sorry i haven't written in awhile, so much has been going on. but for sure when i see everyone again i wont be able to shut up about everything! and just about everyone participates, but mostly just the teens and people in their 20's. but you often see 50 year old men proudly donning their outfits and battle scars.!
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