Rosa vive con noi!

In preparation for the main festivities on September 3, last night was the 42nd annual "minifacchini" celebration. Little kids carry "minimacchina" around town. It is already on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_IDaHfByO8.

We were there, on Piazza Dante:



The "mini" festivities started as early as 1 pm with parades, services, speeches, etc. At 8, there was a performance of the gruppo folcloristico "Le Sbandieratrici di Viterbo" and "Gruppo Storico Musicale." "Sbandieratrici" are all girls, age 14-18 -- they practice the ancient art of throwing flags; Gruppo Musicale is boys with drums and trumpets. It went OK, the flying flags, predictably, better than the music.



Then a kid, obviously a local star, sang, yet again, "Rosa vive con noi" -- Rosa is alive with us.(Anyone who grew up in the Soviet Russia would easily recognize the tune: "Lenin vsegda zhivoi, Lenin vsegda s toboi...") Finally, the "minimacchina" was unveiled and the "minifacchini" went to work.




Better pictures at http://www.tusciaweb.it/notizie/2006/settembre/2_10minimacchinasantarosa.htm.

Of all the rituals where young kids are made to dress in uniforms and do pointless things, this seemed to me one of the most direct. These kids, dressed in white, with red waistbands, had to lift and carry around town a really heavy contraption. Haven't they heard of wheels? Some of the kids were as young as 5, mostly boys, but also a few girls -- a "mini" bow to "mini" political correctness. The kids had little pillows strapped to their asses; they placed the pillow on one shoulder when it was their turn to carry. Pairs of 5- or 6-year-olds carried heavy trestles on which the "macchina" rested during stops.

(I suppose, this is a rite of passage of sorts: a real "facchino" must be able to carry a 150 kg box for 70 meters -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw34SwyTkz0. The aspirants probably spend the years beween 13 and 20 in the gym.)

The procession started at 9 pm and went on for a few hours to complete a circle around the Old Town, with 13 stops for rest and "facchini" changes. All the lights in town along the route went off. We didn't wait for the finish: went home.

The real "macchina" is already towering by one of the town gates, glistering behind a giant veil.

Preghiera del Minifacchino

O celeste Patrona di Viterbo Santa Rosa
noi tuoi giovani concittadini
To offriamo questa nostra fatica
come testimonianza di affetto e devozione.

Ben più gravi furono le fatiche
e le sofferenze che Tu affrontasti
per il tuo popolo.

Dacci la forza di non essere indegni di Te
accetta la nostra solenne promessa:
nella vita cercheremo di imitare le Tue
virtù e il Tuo attaccamento a Viterbo.

Concedici di passare da questa piccola macchina
alle opere che meglio glorificano il Tuo nome.
Ma sopratutto di conservare anche da grande
i sentimenti di devozione e affetto per te
e di amore per la nostra Viterbo.