The St. Johns herald., 1896-01-11
QUAINT ITALIAN FETE.
The Lilies of Nola Built by the
 Different Gilds.
They Are Obelisks of Papier-Mache Towering Nearly One Hundred Feet In the Air A Picturesque and
 Enjoyable Celebration.

In the Century Mary Scott Uda gives an account of quaint bit of Italian merry-making, "The Lilies of Nola. !" The writer says: The fifty trains dis patched by the narrow-gauge railway on June 24 are insufficient to contain the crowds that flock to Nola to admire the famous Gigli, or Lilies, which are its pride. Pure tradition (for can find no treatise or historical account of the custom) has handed down from father to son the art of making these large structures, which I should be afraid to describe did not photography come to the aid of faith and enable me to lay be- fore the incredulous the proof that real ity is sometimes stranger than fiction. The Lilies" of Nola, which in the begin ming were probably pyramids of fow- CTS carried in the procession in honor of St. Paulinus, are to-day towering obelisks or turrets eighty or ninety feet high, artistically constructed in Gothic, Corinthian and Doric styles, adorned with statues, ornamental friezes, bas- reliefs and emblems, and built on nova ole platforms.
 Undoubtedly the handsomest Lily of the year am describing, for purity of design and elegance of finish, was that built by the Butchers guild. It was turret in pointed Gothic style, inclosed on all four sides, representing in pure white and soft chiaroscuro tints the central minaret, with its delicate and lacelike tracery, of the famons cathe- dral of Milan. A winged Victory crowned the summit, and beautiful statues filled the ornamental inches; , and, vanity of vanitiesl life-size DOT trait of the proud architect decorated the plinth, to the edification of behold CTS. The Lily of the prodigal wine merchant I have quoted was in delicious rococo style, very tangle of brilliant coloring and elaborate detail as fam tastic as vase of vieux Sake. The grocers' Lily was in Gothic and the shoemakers' in baroco style. The Lilies of the smiths and of the tailors rose like colossal towers of glittering lna- jolica, while the bakers Lily, built in pure Corinthian style, was admirably adorned with reclining angels, trum- pet in hand, that recalled the exquisite seraphs of Fra Angelica. Thus the old artistic fire fingers in the veins of an uncult:vated people. who rudely but wildly express what they vaguely feel.
 The closing of designs and the work of preparations occupy considerable time; but the erecting, or dressing" of the Lily, as it is called, is, like the building of Aladdin's palace, done in a single night-a haste rendered necessary by the fact that an accidental shower would speedily melt the gay structure to paste. However, in this brilliant climate, in the month of June, unless Vesuvius has very threatening cloud cap on. fair weather may be counted on.
 As soon as the Lily is dressed and fully adorned q counted upon one no fewer than fifty statues of papicr- macheD it is firmly anchored with ropes to the trees and balconies about the home of the giglinnte, which becomes the Mecca of the faithful, until it is called to join the procession at the public square. Then the rigging. which i; masked with thick punches of green box and is gayly decorated with 1uttering banncrets, is mounted by daring urchins, who, poised here and there like squirrels fifty feet in air, steady the lofty pinnacle with invisible ropes. The platform is occupied by the band, without which it would be impossible to keep step, and the under pinning is manned by the robust port CTS, whose shoulders before the day is over are always bruised and often cut and bleeding. The gigliante, like band-master, goes ahead and gives the signal of march, crowds of small boys dance and cut fantastic tricks before it, the people applaud to the echo, and the majestic pile moves swiftly and smooth ly through the crowd, seeming to be propelled by its own impulse rather than by the will of forty men.