It may seem like a contradiction in terms but the phrase “tradition we make ourselves” comes to mind this morning as the week-long annual GVS Solidarity week came to a fitting and colourful climax this morning with a parade led by the drummers and flag throwers of the Gallicano Sbandieratori who marched from the Fosso down to Barga Giardino.
Along the way various participants from groups and voluntary associations around the province joined the march with banners, flags and coloured balloons.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8ZOazpJorQ
Unfortunately this year, the rain played a negative part in the celebrations as constant drizzle curtailed a good part of the events and instead of the “Friendship Games” usually played with gusto in Piazzale Matteotti, everybody moved indoors to the school and into the dry.
But before they entered the school, a message of friendship attached to some of the brightly coloured helium filled balloons was launched into the grey and miserable looking sky– maybe we are far enough away from the sea to not think about any dolphins choking on those balloons when they come down ?
SOLIDARITY (according to Wikipedia) is unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards.It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one. The term is generally employed in sociology and the other social sciences.
What forms the basis of solidarity varies between societies. In simple societies it may be mainly based around kinship and shared values. In more complex societies there are various theories as to what contributes to a sense of social solidarity.