Hi everyone….this week we shall be talking about a festival organised in Italy, specifically in a town on the outskirts of Milano.  The article is written by Andrea Margiotta

Andrea Margiotta

My town celebrates a very old festivity, called GIOEBIA, every year on the last Thursday of January.

This special occasion is held in all the 8 outskirts of my town. In this celebration, hundreds of years ago, farmers used to make a dummy made of cardboard, paper and creeping plants a week before the party. Then, when the dummies were ready on the last Thursday of January, at 8 o’clock in the evening all the people used to gather round in 8 different squares to fire them. For the local inhabitants this event was a ritual that was intended to keep all the natural disasters far from cultivated fields.

The fire goes on for an hour and a half and usually it represents the body of an old woman. After that everybody joins to drink hot wine and chocolate.

Nowadays this custom has disappearing because there are not many farmers left in the city. Probably instead of 8 fires now there are only 1 or 2, it depends on the mood of the people.

Happy weekend everyone

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