Easter and the Exploding Cart

Was Easter almost two weeks ago?  Forgive us folks, but sometimes life gets in the way of letting you be part of the action.

Holy Week here in Florence was quite an experience.  We were able to choose from a myriad of free concerts almost every night.  One night we went to Santa Croce for Verdi's Requiem.  What a setting!  Good enough to house the remains of Michelangelo, Rossini and Galileo.  Galileo was moved there after it was decided that the earth did, indeed, revolve around the sun about a hundred years after his death.   Unfortunately the acoustics in the church weren't great and the sound didn't carry well.

Santa Croce cloister

Altar of a side chapel

Galileo's tomb in Santa Croce

The next night we attended a smaller concert held in the American Episcopal Church (St James, Diocese of Europe) given by the Duomo Choir which was also very well received.  Afterward they provided a lovely reception with wonderful Italian goodies.  We went back to the American Episcopal Church for Easter Vigil on Saturday night.  It started with the congregation lighting candles from the Baptismal Candle which was "decorated" with nails in the form of a cross.  Baby Emmanuel was christened that night in keeping with Episcopal tradition.  We are happy to report that there was no incense used, so Theresa was able to stay in the service.

After the service conducted by Father Mark Duncan, Dottie Duncan, his wife, had made dinner for all of us.  The Duncans are from Alabama.  Italians often eat a first course (primo piatto) and second course (secondo piatto).  In this case Dottie made a wonderful rice dish with black eyed peas for the first course.  We didn't even know you could find black-eyed peas in Italy!  Second course was roast pork (very common here), chilled pickled onions, turnips, broccoli, and bread.  Of course there's dessert and this time it was cake, cookies and strawberries. 

On Sunday we got up early enough to be in Piazza del Duomo to get a great place to see the Scoppio del Carro......or the exploding cart.   The term "duomo" comes from the Latin "domus deo" or "house of God".

The Piazza is empty when we arrive at 9 AM........

........except for a few press trying to get a story.  The roll of wire to the left is strung from inside the church out to the cart to carry the "dove" that lights the cart.  Since superstition says the year's harvest depends on a good lighting of the cart, they don't leave that to chance anymore!

There are two parades from two sides of the city.  Both have paraders in medieval costumes, flag bearers, trumpets, and drums.  One group is led by white oxen decorated with flowers

pulling a 20 foot high cart that has the fireworks

The cart arrives, covered with plastic due to the threat of rain (it didn't).  You can see that the piazza has filled up rapidly.

while the other has "the flame". The cart is over 500 years old and the ceremony far older.  The flame is supposed to be lit by flint that was stolen from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by the Florentines in the First Crusade  (roughly 1100AD).  Eventually, after a lot of flag twirling and parading...

Video of a flag routine in front of the Duomo

costumed paraders

 

 

and musicians

And finally a priest carrying the holy fire arrives

Finally the priest and his entourage come out of the church to bless the cart and the fire and everything else in sight

then an arrow shaped like a dove is shot into the cart causing 20 minutes of fireworks.  This whole ceremony is woven into the Easter service taking place in the Duomo.  The arrow shoots out of the Duomo during the Gloria and the cart starts shooting fireworks from the bottom

 Video of fireworks from the cart

  More video of fireworks, including the bells that rang incessantly

and multi-colored smoke

 and works up until the last thing that happens is 4 flags appear at the top. 

When we arrived around 9AM, there were very few people there.  I thought that maybe we would see a couple of hundred people.  By 11, when the arrow left the church there were thousands in the piazza.  We never saw so many people converge in so little time in our lives.  In America people would have been sleeping outside all night.  Not Florence.  The idea was to come when you want and just push where you want to be.......all very Italian. 

Our Easter in Italy was as memorable as our daughter Laura said it would be.  No Easter baskets (except the one Ken fashioned for me). 

Our Easter basket and the "Colomba" that the Montini's (our landlords) gave us

No big flowery hats or Easter hams.  Just a huge cart that shot fireworks because an arrow was shot out of a church.  Pretty special actually.