The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1906-10-31
WALTZ OF THE GIGLl
THE sTRANGEsT, MADDEsT DANCE IN
THE WORLD.

MOST Fantastic and Dangerous Fea-
ture of the Remarkable Festival OF
the Lilies That Is Celebrated In the
Old Italian City of NOla.
know there is none more remarkable
than the June festival of the lilies at
Nola, that ancient but sleepy city lying
twenty miles out from Naples in the
lovely Campagna Felice.
Nola's great hero and patron saint Is
st, Paulinus, poet and bishop Of the
fifth century, He is credited with hav-
ing invented church bells and was al
together so remarkable person that
he was carried off into captivity by the
Moors. His captors, however, were SO
impressed by the sanctity and sweet
ness of the bishop that they suffered
him to escape, and when he returned
home the whole population turned out
to meet him, carrying In their hands
the great tall white lilies SO familiar
to this day to visitors in this lovely
part of Italy.
AS years passed away the anniver-
sary of Bishop Paulinus' return was
celebrated with more and more ceremo-
ny until at length the trade guilds be-
gan to erect elaborate ornamental tow
ers which they carried in procession as
symbols of the lilies with which the
Joyous populace welcomed their bishop
on his return The date of the festival
today is June 26, and SO remarkable Is
1T that it attracts visitors from all over
rtRly. .| '~.s-
On the eve of the great day, when
the gigli, or ornamental towers, seven
stories in height, with multitudinous
icornices and papier mache decorations,
stand ready all Nola is Illuminated, and
thousands of colored lanterns are hung
on ropes across the streets.
One notices that the base Of the pyram-
idal gigh consists of a massive frame
work Of beams. On the lowest story
is accommodation for an orchestra, and
every tier and detail Of the towering
fiowerlike gigli that rises glittering
above the highest housetops Is worked
out with as much pains as though 1t
were intended for some great cathe-
dral which should endure, not for
day, but for thousand years.
Every Whitsunday Nola wakes up
to great excitement. A varicolored
italian crowd, largely mixed with
foreigners, pours through the narrow
streets to the market place. For few
lire they secure seats on a balcony, at
a window, on a fiat roof or even on
some crumbling and dangerous projec-
ton of the hoary old cathedral. The
streets at the four corners Of the mar
ket square are kept clear for the pas
sage of the giant gigli. -. r
Suddenly the confused sound of many
bands is heard, and one by one, fash
ing glittering and swaying crafty, like
the mast of a ship in q gale, the great
pyramids advance into the square, their
lofty spires nodding to the rhythmic
feet of their bearers, who are always
porters from the great arsenal at
Naples. These men are famous all
over the Campagna Felice for. their
great strength. Before, each moving
tower a man walks backward, guiding
the bearers by beating time with hand
and foot. Other men run beside them
ready to lay hold of beam and place
luOlE own S1lOuIuCE UcuCdlu IL SuOulu
the strength of comrade fail.
The moment all the eight gigi have
entered the market place an extraor-
binary spectacle is beheld, for the
lofty towers begin fantastic and APP
parently most dangerous dance, dan
gerous, SO far as one can see alike for
porters and populace. Round and
round each tower dances. Collisions
seem inevitable, but are always skill
fully avoided in the mazes Of kind Of
waltz, surely the strangest dance in the
world, with forty struggling men be-
meath each of the eight gigli and the
whole army of dancers guided by the
shrill whistle of the captain. -
After few minutes of this dance the
massed bands strike up a wild taran-
tella. Immediately the bearers dance
more recklessly thar ever, and the
huge crowd rushes hither and thither
to escape humiliation from the fall of
the great juggernauts. And imminent
enough does this seem. The towers,
many Of them from 20 to 100 feet high,
bend this way and that at terribly
alarming angle. But presently the
crowd realizes that, after all, there may
be no real danger, and they, too. begin
to dance and sing.
A sight indeed Is it to see this great
populace dancing furiously and the
eight colossal towers dancing also In
their midst Just when the porters
grow so fatigued that their burden be-
comes very real danger the board of
Judges send the notice over tO infor-
fere. Gradually the Waiting pyramids
art brought to a standstill and ranged
in row before the town hall.-William