on 8/2/04 6:04 AM, Ken Mondschein at editor@corporatemofo.com wrote:

>> My experience of Italy is the living tradition has a reasonably high
>> profile as it tends to tends to be part of the show when the town
>> carnival/fete takes place.
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> How far back does this tradition go?

I don't know how far back it goes (I suspect local festivals have long sinc=
e
melded into tourist events, but that's just supposition), but I saw lots of
evidence of it in my three weeks in Italy last month. Virtually every hill
town has some sort of medieval festival (I got some nice pictures of the
sets built into the old town in Bevagne, though we missed the actual
festival). My hosts in the Brescia chapter of Nova Scrimia (fabulously nic=
e
people, excellent fencers and martial artists) were preparing for a
swordplay demonstration in one of the towns along Lago di Garda, although I
missed that event too. Many of the Nova Scrimia chapters perticipate in
that sort of thing.

Many of the larger cities have "martial" spectacles woven into their
festivals (it's all over the tourist literature) though I can't speak to th=
e
authenticity of any of it.


Sean Hayes
Maestro d=B9armi
Northwest Academy of Arms
http://www.northwestacademyofarms.com/

"Popular is a tricky word. People in large numbers don't always have the
best taste." - Richard Thompson



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