Feste Vigiliane

Saint Vigilius (San Vigilio di Trento) is the patron saint of Trento. Every year Feste Vigiliane, a party held on three consecutive weekends, celebrates this fact. Vigilius settled in Trento in 380 and became its first bishop. Not surprisingly, he spent his life attempting to convert pagans. Ironically, there is a giant Neptune fountain directly in front of the Cathedral of Trento, where he is buried. On an unrelated note, apparently a childhood friend/fellow saint named Romedius once wanted to visit Vigilius in Trento but his horse was mauled by a bear on the way. At this point Romedius tamed, bridled, and then rode the now docile bear into Trento. Seems legit.

I cannot speak for the first weekend of the festival because we were in Porto.

On the Friday of the second weekend there was a parade. There was a jazz band, a king and queen, other fancy people in fancy clothes, and contingents from different neighborhoods and surrounding smaller communities. Each group had a specific colorful costume and represented teams that would be competing in the Palio dell'Oca ("Goose Grab"). More on that later. The last two groups were the "Confraternita dei Ciusi e dei Gobj", where Ciusi are the bad guys from Feltre dressed in yellow and red and the Gobj are the good guys from Trentino dressed in black and grey. In the sixth century the Feltrini, during a time of famine, plundered Trento's granaries and then were defeated by the Trentini in the ensuing battle. This battle is now re-enacted in an elaborate game which seems to be a mix of capture the flag, tug-o-war, and red rover with an added bonus of a large pot of polenta guarded by ladies with brooms. We will return to this later.

Saturday was dubbed "La Magica Notte" (The Magical Night). There were activities planned throughout the city over the afternoon and into the evening, including many children's activities in various different parks. We decided to try and visit one that advertised an art project using vegetables as stamps, 'cause what could go wrong with a three year old wielding an ink covered carrot. We passed four different stages preparing for live music that would start later that night. (I think this is the real reason the night was magical, because if you have ever been to Trento you know that there is no such thing as "night life" here. Usually by 9pm the streets are pretty quiet.) We found the park but not the vegetable stamping. Instead there was a kids' bike obstacle course (that Maya wanted to try until she actually saw someone try), a mini basketball camp, and an odd magician/clown/bubble artist who spent most of his time yelling, "Dietro!" (Get back!). Maya did participate in the basketball event; it was fun until she took a tumble on the brick paved court. Viva la magica notte!

On Sunday evening was the Palio dell'Oca. The palio consists of 59 teams of 5 that navigate wooden rafts in a timed skills challenge down the stretch of the Adige river that runs through town. Before getting to Trento, the river first runs through Val d'Adige, an alpine valley full of mountains that (until recently) were full of snow. We've seen a lot of rain recently. The river is high and fast right now is what I'm trying to say. The challenges consist of (1) navigating through a bar gate hanging from a bridge, (2) hanging a small hoop on a kedge anchor (that is also hanging from a bridge), (3) mooring on the bank at a specific spot while a teammate jumps out to (4) throw a dart at a target then (5) catch "trout" out of a bucket using a dip net before jumping back on the raft, (6) hanging a larger ring on the neck of a "goose" hanging near the opposite bank, (7) tossing a rubber ducky (I believe it represents a goose in this case) into a basket hanging over the middle of the river, and finally (8) sounding a siren by smacking a target hanging from the finish line/bridge. Each challenge failed adds penalty time. There was quite a bit of penalty time. However, several of the teams seemed to have spent some time practicing. The hanging of rings on the goose was the most exciting for the spectators, so that is where we spent most of our time. The pictures below of the palio are in challenge order, rather than when I took them order.

The last night of the festival (starting at 9pm) is the Mascherada dei Ciusi e dei Gobj. As I hinted above, this sounds kind of awesome. Unfortunately I will be out of town and Christine seems unwilling to go take some picture for me (something about three and nine year olds and crowds and events downtown starting at 9pm). My understanding is that the Gobj (the good guys from Trento) will lock arms in a large circle with their backs to a large pot of polenta. The polenta will be further guarded by women standing inside the circle with brooms (they are called strozzere, which I think translates "to throttle"). The Ciusi (the bad guys from Feltre) will attempt to break the protective circle and steal the polenta. There are apparently elaborate rules, referees, and penalties for breaking said rules. Sounds fun.

Afterwards there will be fireworks because everybody knows that Saint Vigilius loves fireworks.

The good guys

The bad guys

This is a cage that is another part of the festival... apparently in olden times one convicted of heresy was locked in such a cage which was then lowered (tossed?) off a bridge into the chilly Adige, where the criminal was allowed to "cool off". Re-enacting this is part of the festival. We didn't catch the actual dunking...

Waiting to watch the boat race...

Approaching the kedge anchor

The kedge anchor attempt from above

Mooring

 Some rafts were better at mooring that others.

The dart throwing and trout fishing are on the bank there where the guys in yellow shirts are.

The paper-mâché goose

Too far for the goose toss. But in good spirits anyway.

Limbo lower now...

No penalty for running into the goose... though only about half of the teams got this close. Several of the rafts were still in the middle of the (very wide) Adige when they passed the goose.

Oh, so close...

This guy actually missed...

...he slipped and fell before he successfully got the ring around the goose's neck

Lots of people...

The rafts needed to be close to the bank to successfully ring the goose, but then they had to get back to the middle relatively quickly (fighting the current) to be centered for the "duck toss."

This guy is actually on a hand-made raft in a swiftly flowing river, making a jump shot. Crazy stuff.