Ivrea Carnival, Battle of the Oranges

We hopped on the train on Sunday after church to a town called Ivrea, Italy where a longtime festival has occurred, the Battle of the Oranges. We had some ideas of what it would be like from talking to other people, but we didn't have any idea what we were in for.

A little bit of history about the battle:
The traditional orange throwing has its roots in the middle
of the XIXth century. Earlier and more precisely in the middle ages, beans were used in this battle. We are told that twice a year
the feudal lord gave a pot of beans to the poor families who,
out of disrespect, threw them into the streets. The same pulses were also used at carnival as fun ammunition to be thrown at the backs of unsuspecting adversaries. Around the thirties and sixties of last century, girls started to throw some oranges from their balconies onto the parade carriages together with confetti, lupins and flowers.
The targets of these were the boys by whom the girls wanted to be noticed. From the carriages the boys started to answer in kind and little by little, the gesture of homage became first a duel and then a real fight between the throwers on the balconies and those in the streets. Only after the Second World War did the battle become the present contest following fixed rules.
Today the contest is still enacted
in the main squares of the town where teams in carriages (symbolising
the tyrant’s guards) battle against
the orange thrower teams on foot
(the rebellious commoners) which consist of hundreds of throwers.
Undoubtedly this is the most spectacular event of the festivities representing the fight for liberty,
the symbol of the Ivrea Carnival.
The orange battle is an incredible cultural and goliardic heritage putting the festival on a national and international level.
The orange throwing is also the event with the greatest collective participation: anybody can take part by enlisting in one of the nine teams on foot or becoming a member of a carriage crew.

Please check out Lindsey and John's blog for a great explaination of what actually occured during the "battle"(and a great picture of Meredith at the festival). A quick explaination is: everyone wearing red is technically "off limits". They are supposed to be safe from getting hit by oranges, but you always get a stray orange coming at you no matter how hard you try. Also, at times it felt a bit like it was sprinkling orange juice instead of rain. Walking through thousands of oranges worth of orange pulp isn't anything any of us thought we would ever do in our lifetime, and something that could not be missed. Those of you that think I am crazy for exposing my children to this festival, well:

1. You only live once
and
2. There were safety nets you could get behind if it got terribly violent

It was a great day enjoyed by all, thanks to Lindsey and John for sharing the day with us and helping so much with the kids! Hope you enjoy the pictures...

On the train..

Let the battles begin...

Just the beginning


Notice the Battle brewing in the background
Nolan wouldn't look at the camera, didn't want to miss the action
Lindsey, Matt, Nolan and John watching the battle
Lots of orange pulp, this was something to witness
Even though Lindsey was wearing red, she got nailed right in the face with an orange(notice the orange pulp on her face). She said it felt like a basketball hit her smack in the face.
In the heat of Battle
Some oranges even made into the river
A sea of red
Our family in Ivrea
Lindsey, John, Nolan, Meredith and I taking a break
A quick picture before we get hit..
They went through hundreds of oranges crates

Check out these videos

Just one of many of the battles...

This was one of our walks from battle to the next.

The parade after the battles ended



A wiped out Meredith