Il Palio di Maria Assunta

Last weekend, the 14-16th of August, was a big weekend here in Siena, probably the most anticipated of the year. There is a 700 year old tradition here of a great celebration surrounding the Feast of the Assumption. The tradition goes back to the 13th century when the Sienese were in a war against their Florentine neighbors to the north. The people of Siena consecrated themselves to Our Lady of the Assumption and under her protect they were able to defeat the Florentines in one particularly famous that was won, the name of which I have forgotten. But anyway, in memory of this they have been annually celebrating in magnificently on the feast of the Assumption for some centuries now. The main events are not of particularly religious nature, and center around the oldest horse race in the world- the Palio.

The Palio is run on the 16th- this year Sunday- the day after the feast of the Assumption. There are several events that lead up to the race in which I was able to participate. The first is the selection of the horses, which took place the Thursday before t he race. Some trainers out in the countryside pick thirty horses which seem to be promising racers. Then they bring these thirty to the city and have them run a couple practice runs around the track- which actually the outer rim of the Piazza del Campo (the main square in Siena which in the week preceding is filled up with dirt and medieval looking grandstands!) After these trial runs they select 10 horses which will be the ones in the race. The ten horses are then randomly selected and assigned to a different contrada or neighborhood in the city. There 17 of these throughout Siena and they have been around since the 12th century. Each one is a different part of the city, and they are originally associated with different medieval guilds. Every year 10 contradas are chosen to race and the other seven sit out, and are guaranteed a spot in the following year’s race. Anyway- the horses are drawn in this elaborate ceremony where this young boy draws numbers out of what appears to be a medieval raffle wheel and then draws the name of one of the contradas- corresponding to that horse. It is a huge deal and the square was pretty full. Whenever a neighborhood got drawn all the men would come down and grab their horse and then start marching through the city back to their part of town (where there is a building call- no joke- the horse house, where the horse stays till race day!)- chanting these fight songs all the way!

After that there are various provos or trial runs that occur each night so that the horse and the jockeys can get used to the track, and also so that the locals can have an idea on who to bet on! I actually didn’t make it to any of these because at the same time as these happened there was also a Novena at the duomo preparing for the feast of the Assumption. We went to mass nearly all nine days of the novena (I missed a few when I was in Ravenna), with all the old church ladies from Siena- it was great! Haha. On the last night this priest who is the rector of the cathedral came up to us and asked us if we were seminarians- I guess we kind of stick out as the only people under 50 there… But after we told him who we were he invited us to serve the Solemn Mass on Saturday with the Archbishop of Siena! Pretty insane! Naturally we accepted! So on Saturday morning we got to the Cathedral at 9:15 before the 10AM mass and got all prepped for the mass with our servers albs and directions on what are roles would be during the mass! The bishop got there a few minutes before mass and we got to talk to him for a bit- a really nice and holy man! It was awesome! I was a vimp and held the bishop’s mitre during the Mass, and it was pretty surreal to think that in the midst of a church full of Italians there were six American serving the mass! It was amazing- God works wonders and it is so amazing that for the second week in a row I was graced to be able to serve Mass in one of the most famous churches in the World!

Anyway, Sunday was the big day of the race and we got up early to go to Sunday mass down in the Piazza del Campo with the bishop. (This is a special mass where he actually blesses all the jockeys before the race- it is crazy how much they get into this!)After that we hung out until about 2 pm when we went to one of the neighborhoods around the school (the monastery I live in is in the Bruco (which means caterpillar- they all have animal mascots!) neighborhood which wasn’t competing this time around unfortunately) and witness the blessing of the horse. This is a traditional ceremony where they bring the horse up to the altar of the local parish and the priest blesses the horse! And then yells, and I mean really yells, at it, “Va, e ritorna il vincatore!” which means “Go! And return the victor!” It was pretty awesome! But each contrada does this and then the whole contrada processes around the city following the horse that is preceded by some men dressed up in some intense medieval garb- I have attached some photos so you can see what I mean! They stop by all the famous places in the city including the Duomo where they are blessed by the bishop who stands in his palace’s window! They do this for about three hours! Eventually they get to the Piazzo del Campo which is the race track and then process around there for a while and then we just have to wait till the race which began at seven.

We got to the Piazza about two hours before race time and it was packed! They close all the entrances to the piazza but one and it took a good half an hour to get in- they fit on average about 40,000 people into this little piazza for the race! We just kind of chilled there- munchin’ on some bread and taking in the scene until it was time for the race about 7:00 when the Palio- a banner that is given to the winner- arrived on this cart being pulled by four huge oxen! Following this the race is supposed to start within a few minutes- and indeed the bareback horses and their riders all came onto the course- but when seven rolled around the race did not start! We had to wait for nearly an hour and half for the race to actually start because the horses all just line up on the starting line and they do not easily do this- especially when their jockeys have made deals and the different neighborhoods work together to gain advantages! As I was standing there I realized that Americans would never put up with something so disorganized- but it was quintessential Italy as I have come to know it! When the race finally started, it was an exhilarating minute and a half and when the dust settled- two riders were down, and the Civetta, or the Owl, contrada had won the race! The place went nuts with that neighborhood’s fans going crazy- they hadn’t won in thirty years!- and the rest of the mob trying to get out the place. We made it back safe a sound to our monastery, avoiding a few fights we passed on the way, and called it a day.

The infamous Palio of Siena was quite an event- unlike anything I have seen before- and once was enough!

More updates on life here will be forthcoming, all is very well but italian classes and orientation have sucked up my free time! But be assured of my prayers, keep me in yours.

Holy Mary Gloriously Assumed into Heaven, Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death!