For two weeks in the summer, Amelia celebrates its history. The town actually goes back millennia but this is geared towards the Medieval era. The town is divided into five Contrade or districts. Each Contrada competes. There are processionals in the evening with drums and Trumpets. Each group devises a theatre piece based on an idea or an incident from the towns past and performs it. I saw my districts offering which was a story based on an old law that said that a woman couldn't loan money without her husband's consent. Each district runs a Taverna for a week. They serve food and drinks. The penultimate night there is a huge processional with all five districts together and then the last day are the games. There's horse-back riding, jousting, crossbow etc. As you can see from the pictures they all take it VERY seriously - young and old. The dressing room for our district is right across the street from our bedroom window (ie about 10 feet away). As delightful and moving an experience as it was, not having a drum corps and bugle section practicing RIGHT THERE is bliss!!
Beautiful pics! Do you mind explaining the event?
The red and yellow (Posterola) is Michael's and my district.
For two weeks in the summer, Amelia celebrates its history. The town actually goes back millennia but this is geared towards the Medieval era. The town is divided into five Contrade or districts. Each Contrada competes. There are processionals in the evening with drums and Trumpets. Each group devises a theatre piece based on an idea or an incident from the towns past and performs it. I saw my districts offering which was a story based on an old law that said that a woman couldn't loan money without her husband's consent. Each district runs a Taverna for a week. They serve food and drinks. The penultimate night there is a huge processional with all five districts together and then the last day are the games. There's horse-back riding, jousting, crossbow etc. As you can see from the pictures they all take it VERY seriously - young and old. The dressing room for our district is right across the street from our bedroom window (ie about 10 feet away). As delightful and moving an experience as it was, not having a drum corps and bugle section practicing RIGHT THERE is bliss!!
Stunning capture of this event!