ONLINE!!!! 12:34 pm 1/30/04

WE ARE ONLINE!! STAY TUNED.....

UPDATE: Pilfered Wallet, Sandstorm, Carnavale Exhibit, Floats

The wallet was found by a Palmeritano (guy from Palermo) and given to the police. No money or credit cards, but who expected it? This does a bit to restore our faith in Sicilians. But the clean-up after the sandstorm takes all day, and we are lucky, as the sun comes out and a gorgeous day follows. The Barchetta was easy, as it is so little. But the chairs and terraces and every outdoor surface has a fine layer of sand on them.
We stop to see a display of the work of school children in an exhibition hall, and they are something! The kids are practicing for future participation in Carnavale-smart move on the part of civic and school leaders. I think a perfect job would be coordinating curriculum between the classes and Carnavale. Today’s paper had a group of essays and pictures of the school children in their costumes and what the experience meant to them. On the other side of the exhibit is an old timer that explains some of the historic figures of Carnavale that the school children have constructed. Peppe ‘Nappa is not the only mythic figure! The old guy is happy to get a crowd and to have his picture taken.
We get to the floats just about sunset, and almost all of them are working-that is, their parts move, so that you will see one picture one minute, and a different one the next. So you can stop and stare at each float for several minutes, as there is so much detail, and then all the detail changes. And Janet Jackson has nothing on the bare breasts of these floats! Wherever they can figure to stick one in, they will do it.
Another huge difference is that the crowds are not forced to stay back. You can see how narrow the streets get, and the crowd thickens each time they narrow until it gets very claustrophobic. And the floats are so huge it is impossible to stop them quickly. But people are all around and all over the floats all of the time, dancing, drinking, applauding, or just walking and gawking. Dancers change, people scramble on and off, hand on and off supplies. And, yes, the poor dancers are still dancing! I took a picture of the girl in the huge white feathered tail earlier in the week in the wind of the port, and she was still in one piece, miraculously held together.
The floats are not all allegorical or satirical, but many of them have layers of meaning which we are just beginning to fathom. You can see the two pictures of the chess players (of course the female is bare) in different positions, as the chess pieces constantly move. Also my arty shot of the moon on the float and last nights’ lovely moon. And last of all Peppe ‘Nappa approaches the crowded piazza, and Fran and Steve head home for another day of Carnavale. It’s like the State Fair in Syracuse-how much confusion do you really need to see? Tonight they burn Peppe ‘Nappa and Carnavale will end for another year.