The night before Palio all of the Contradas throw "practice" victory parties. Aka in case they win the Palio they need to have a dress rehearsal of the party they might have. We all went to a Discoteca with a bunch of the locals and then sat around the Campo listing to each contrada parade around and sing their songs until 5am when the horses were supposed to practice, the next few pictures are of Siena at 5am... we really didn't sleep at all this weekend.
We went to bed about 7am then Miguel and I woke up at 8:30am to get ready for our Palio lunch with the Nicchio contrada (Gordon invited me and a friend). We ate lunch on these huge tables with the whole contrada, met lots of really fun people/new friends, and had one of the best lunches I've ever had. A bunch of the elders teased me about not drinking with them at noon!! It was going to be in the hundreds that day and we would be outside all day and they were drinking so much wine at noon!! I stuck with water and ignored the teasing. After lunch the Nicchio horse was blessed in the church.
And then there was a flag ceremony.
And then we sang with the whole contrada while walking with the captain, jockey, and horse to the main square! Such an experience.
Then Miguel and I ran to our dorms to meet up with our friends and we walked over to the campo at 4pm. The parade started at 5:30 and went until 8pm!! These guards came in first, they trotted one lap then sprinted two more laps to signal the start of the parade.
The parade went on for about 3 hours and it was extremely hot. It takes forever because each contrada walks slooooowly around twirling their flags. Each one does the exact same thing so after about 4 contradas went we just sat down, tanned, and enjoyed each others company.
The horses that were racing went to be blessed in the Duomo then came down in the parade to the publico to be blessed again.
These were knights. They were totally covered in armor but had animals on their heads... this one had a rooster...
Goose contrada =) Took a few pictures of them for the wild goose!
Packed. 70% smoking cigarettes, 100% sweating and stinking
Ox carried around the last float of the parade. It had all the officials on it and the banner that the winning team gets.
Another knight
Fancy Mc Fancy pants
This is the banner. Each year a new one is painted by a different artist but each one is supposed to be the Virgin and Christ. (Siena is the town dedicated to the assumption of the Virgin into heaven). This year however a muslim artist painted it and tried to mix Christian, Jewish, and Muslim ideals so it was the mother and prophet. Many people were extremely upset, and while I loved his intentions it did seem kind of obvious that it would upset... o I don't know... the 98% Catholic town who are obsessed with the Assumption of the Virgin mother. There were a bunch of protests over this and I'm actually thinking of working it into a senior thesis.
The parade finally finished, the cannon went off and the jockeys came out
It took them awhile to set up.
And then there was a flag ceremony.
And then we sang with the whole contrada while walking with the captain, jockey, and horse to the main square! Such an experience.
Then Miguel and I ran to our dorms to meet up with our friends and we walked over to the campo at 4pm. The parade started at 5:30 and went until 8pm!! These guards came in first, they trotted one lap then sprinted two more laps to signal the start of the parade.
The parade went on for about 3 hours and it was extremely hot. It takes forever because each contrada walks slooooowly around twirling their flags. Each one does the exact same thing so after about 4 contradas went we just sat down, tanned, and enjoyed each others company.
The horses that were racing went to be blessed in the Duomo then came down in the parade to the publico to be blessed again.
These were knights. They were totally covered in armor but had animals on their heads... this one had a rooster...
Goose contrada =) Took a few pictures of them for the wild goose!
Packed. 70% smoking cigarettes, 100% sweating and stinking
Ox carried around the last float of the parade. It had all the officials on it and the banner that the winning team gets.
Another knight
Fancy Mc Fancy pants
This is the banner. Each year a new one is painted by a different artist but each one is supposed to be the Virgin and Christ. (Siena is the town dedicated to the assumption of the Virgin into heaven). This year however a muslim artist painted it and tried to mix Christian, Jewish, and Muslim ideals so it was the mother and prophet. Many people were extremely upset, and while I loved his intentions it did seem kind of obvious that it would upset... o I don't know... the 98% Catholic town who are obsessed with the Assumption of the Virgin mother. There were a bunch of protests over this and I'm actually thinking of working it into a senior thesis.
The parade finally finished, the cannon went off and the jockeys came out
It took them awhile to set up. So if you go to youtube you can see the race, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqNmPK-U94
My video is terrible because it was the most intense experience of my life and I was screaming and cheering and gasping and feeling horror (our jockey fell and then our horse fell and got trampled) and pride and everything all in a few min. The Jockey was fine but almost all of the horses got cuts and a few jockeys have busted limbs. Horse blood is still being washed out of the streets from where they were walked back to their contradas to be cleaned up...
But the palio was intense. And a once in a lifetime experience.
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