I was reading this crazy article about the world’s messiest festivals, so thought I’ll write my random impulse on it this week. Also, I think there are some really interesting (and weird) traditions that can be used as a subject in a poem in the future. In this small village in Valencia they supposedly have a ‘tomatina festival’ where people pummel tomatoes (that have been grown especially for the event) at each, and it has been done since 1944. There is a similar festival in Piedmont, where they throw oranges at each other. This tradition is thought to have started after a women in the 12th century refused to sleep with the local duke on her wedding day and then chopped off his head and threw it at him. It sounds a bit scary and it doesn’t really make sense why people would throw oranges in response to it, but they do it anyway. In Greece there is a celebration called ‘clean Monday’ where they hurl flour at each other. It’s ironic that they call it ‘clean’ Monday when they make such a big mess on that day. A celebration that’s not so messy is one on Caraquet in Canada, where people gather to make noise. At least this festival makes sense, as it is a celebration of their national day and it started when a local priest in the 1960’s asked his parishioners to make some noise to let the world know they were alive after the British forces tried to over throw them. I’m definitely going to try to write a poem incorporating some these crazy traditions next week.
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