Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-10-18
A VINE7DRESSERS FETE
;EEYEH's eGRF4T cELEBR4g3dEI ANL
u 1HE dEREh0NIEs 4rTESbYSs III.

IL Occurs Only Four Times Every
lltfi VIZ VI "A issrsrsfil4s yfVAs=4s Hpen'
In the FestivaI-Various Theories
and specuIatiOns rs to tas Origin Of
us FesEeR Yd .ShHaHHTEb J."
nm,A few days since the, little town Of
hNevey, properly called the queen OF
Lake Ieman, changed her evsty day
garh fol-, her holiday fnexy, ,dezssd ssly
four times in, century In honor OF the
Fetes de5 Vignerons, or fvine.dressers'
fete.i, There are several theories as to
tho origin of this fete, one being that IL
dates back to the twelfth century, with
the old Benedlctine Monastery OF Hsut
Oret, as this convent possessed large
SineX in, the heighBofh66d Of Yevey,
and its inmates were known to be joviAlly
sfnelfnedl This theory is based upon the
IsfIaHtt "a that the president OF the Confrerie,
or brotherhood of vine-dressers, still
obears th8 titte of abbot. Others main
tain that It even dates, from the Roman
!, RFa, iSh the gfohnd that Bacchus and
other gods appear In the retea1fm9r u.
1sitNo mention of the celebration Is, how
ever TO befouhd In history before the
sevelnteenth ! cetItnfy, although at, that
time the Confrerlei were found to be in
at a much earlier date, 1t Is to be sup
posed that the documents relating to It's
aapeient history periehed In the flames
that destroyed the greater part of
iaTeFey iii 1882 ana judging from regis
7 ter still in the possession Of the brother
hood, 1536seems to be about the period
sofTthe establishment of the custom OF
celebrating the first successful vintage
by afeter which would have thus existed
ifoTit three centuries ana half. p..rD|
=, It was only in1797, however, that the
q ofelE, was 9rga1ized upon the same lines
us that of This Year. 1t has since been
held in 1919, 1883. 1851 and 1865. In 1851
ait'ee ased to be nsimplyln pastoral festlv-
ityt and began to iAtt tact visitors from all
eAaEts, nearly $4,000 being expended on
ut, land the number of visitors being ea-
timated at 10000, while $4,000 was
,speht III 1865, and tho influx OIL specta-
tors was more than doubled, This year
the celebration surpassed amy of9its pre-
'-deeessors, and over, g $40, 900 was fex-
pended, the preparations na6ifg been in
progress for morethana year, "a ~.
Ynslfete which was held in. the open
air Ia the large market place of Yevey,
where e stand WIS ected CAPABLE Of
holding l2,OO0 peoples continued for five
days. There wereover2, 900 performers.
d&idedI INTO Tour gtohps, each group
u with dN"flgh priest al its head, First
came theogroups of PaIes,, representing
osprings viVl1foiiowers as mowers iiaS :
makers, Shepherds ete., slhgins and FOL
10 Ned BY, a. ballet; tnHp the group OF
Ceres, asisummer, with bodies of hnr
testetsIand glethersI who danced and
san ~. the sapte, way. :, Next came BAG
chus,s TYPICAL Of aitttimn, with vine dress-
ers, 4 grapeo piekers, coopers, stcse this
ibein9 theprfncipal group; and nnAiiY q
VILLAGE IH3artiage representing vznser;
and then al the. groups In concert sang
ibha'llnaFe accompanied by half a dozen
ib~stis. /" Theiparts of the god. were taken
hy artists, ,espeelaly, Engaged from the
tToRexa OPERA who We're assisted by
chorus of more than 200 trained voices.
'o0nThl'h O'tte'fre dayt .tcra was Il
sPEpceSSion Of ail the performers through
the town, with the exception of Wedncs-
day tswhhhD was devoted to Venetii-.
fete on the ilaEe. The abbot of the pre-
epti ifestiytty was president OF the Swis.,
confederation some years ago Among
the works OF Iapt still in possession of
the bre4lNerliood may be seen kind of
EobIet0 0carSed,H ont OF a vine root, which
hatt been ieligiously handed down fropl
president TO president since the CON-
meneemSft of the seventeenth century.
Each pfegt,leitt ON resigning Office al
itaches,a medal to the goblet bearing his
nRaeI andle the date of his tenure OF
Gasiaa r... .. f.F.tHf