Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-04-16
the ITALIAN CARNIVAL.

About the Festival Carnival In
the Sunny Land.
The period of carnival is the time OF /
feasting, dancing, masquerading and |
buffoonery, principally indulged in in |
Roman Catholic countries. says the |
London Queen 1t begins on the Feast |
of Epiphany. or Twelfth day, and ends !
on Ash Wednesday. when it is succeed |
ed by the austerities of Lent In these |
long revels some Of the license !
of the Saturnalia of the ancient |
Romans may be still detected Milan. |
Rome and Naples were celebrated for i
their carnivals, but they were carried
to their highest perfection at Venice
The pleasant place Of all festivity,
The revel OF the Garth the masQue of Italy
In modern Rome the masquerading in
the streets and all the out-of-door
during which the grotesque maskers
pelt each other with confetti, sugar
plums and bouquets. These are poured
from baskets from the balconies down
upon the maskers passing by below in
carriages and afoot, and they, in their
turn, pelt the company at the windows.
The confetti are made of chalk or
flour, and hundred weight is ammuni-
ton for a carriageful of roysterers-
The races, however, are not of the
most striking out-of-door scenes The
horses are without riders, but have
SPURS, sheets of tin and all sorts of
things hung about them to urge them
EDWARDS. Across the end of the Piazza
del Popolo is stretched a rope. in a line
with which the horses are brought up;
in a second or two the rope is let go,
and away the horses fly at a fearful
rate down the COrso, which is crowded
with people, among whom the plunging
and kicking of the steeds often produces
serious damage.
The closing revel of the carnival is
the Moccoletti, where the sport con-
sists in the crowd carrying lighted cam
dies, varying in size from the paschal
taper to the rush-ight, with two OBJ
jects in view; first, how to preserve
their moccoleti lighted; secondly, how
| to extinguish the moccoletti of others
The moccolo is kind1ed by approaching
| it to a light. But who can describe the
Thousand means Of extinguishing the
moccoletti? The gigantic bellows, the
monstrous extinguishers, the super
| human fans. Dumas, in his Count OF
Monte Cristo," thus wildly describes the
| strange scene: 1.-THE night was rapidly
approaching, and already at the shrill
cry of moccoletti! repeated by the shrill
voices of thousand vendors, two OF
three stars began to twinkle among the
| crowd. This was the signal. In about
ten minutes, fifty thousand lights dut-
tered on every side between the Piazza
del Popolo and the Palais de Venice" a
| sight of which it is almost impossible to
form any idea without having seen it
Suppose all the stars descended from
| the sky and mingled in a wild dance on
the surface of the earth; the whole &C
companied by cries such as are never
heard in any other part of the world
The facchino follows the prince, the
transtavere the citizens; every one
blowing, extinguishing, relighting
This flaming race continued for two
hours; the street was as light as day
and the features of the spectators or
the third and fourth stories were plain
" visible. Suddenly the bell sounded
which gives the signal for the carniva
to close, and at the same instant all the
moccoletti were extinguished as if b.
enchantment. 1t seemed as though ont
immense blast of wind had extinguishe6
them all. No sound was audible, save
of the carriages which conveyed the
masks home; nothing was visible save
a few lights that cleaned behind th'
| windows. The carnival was over.