Calendimaggio – battles and winners

05/08/2011 keane

The origins of the festival of Calendimaggio are to be found among the ancient customs of many different peoples, but especially in the Roman celebrations known as the “Fasti di Maggio” and in the medieval tradition of celebrating the arrival of Spring in early May (Kalende di Maggio)

In Barga it is now always celebrated with the annual crossbow championship . The Associazione Contrade di San Paolino Lucca have been organising these events in Barga since 2001. This morning the procession left the Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia with drummers at the head as they made there way up through the castle to the Duomo where the actually crossbow championship was held. (article here)

For most of the afternoon crossbows have been shooting outside the Duomo for a competitively fought Calendimaggio 2011 but that was nothing compared to what was happened just outside the main walls of the castle, where two opposing groups of soldiers, one group defending, the other fiercely attacking put up a real looking fight in front of a large audience sitting in the sun on the Fosso. Although it was staged conflict, observers at the scene did note after the scene had finished, one of the soldiers being tended to with ice cubes procured at Paolo Gas’s bar, so some of the injuries received were not so staged after all.