Joust Post

Buonasera ragazzi!

It's been a while since the last post, so I'm going to a broader overview of what could be long, complex, and perhaps slightly tiring stories. If you are curious about certain aspects of my stories or would like to contest some of the facts in the story, feel free to contact me when I return to the United States.

I will start two weekends ago with the long awaited Joust Post!

Few three-day stretches in my life can boast as much excitement, history, or crazy Italians as last weekend. Since the dawn of time (practically; literally since the 13th Century), the city of Arezzo has a yearly joust: The stakes are high and tempers fly. The city is divided into four quarters, each having their own colors, chants, and customs. Our apartment is just barely in the red and green quarter (ROSSA VERDE! ROSSA VERDE!), so we were invited on Friday night to the Porto Crucifera (that's our quarter's real name) joust dinner.

Now, before I continue, I have to first comment on the difference in culture between the United States and Italy:

Perhaps the stereotypes are true, because the Italians are an intensely passionate people. It doesn't matter if the event is citywide or worldwide, privately or publicly sponsored, fairly mainstream or just plain weird, Italians will get behind their quarters, their teams, their nations. The recent Eurocup Soccer Matches prove this as well. After the Italians beat the Germans and English there were practically riots in the streets. Cars would not stop honking for several hours and the city was ablaze with energy for the rest of the night. However, when Italy lost in the final match (and by lost, I mean routed: Spain 4; Italy 0), there was not a peep to be heard. People were literally crying on the streets. The next day in Italian class, somebody asked our teacher if he was "sad" about the game, and he got the most forlorn look on his face that clearly communicated the following: "Sad is about one-onemillionth of what I'm feeling, and I certainly don't want to be around you ignorant Americans who don't understand the pain." Needless to say, the game was not brought up again.

So yeah, the Italians are a passionate people.

Back to the joust dinner. The dinner started at 8:30, so we all were rushing to get a good seat. We got there by 8:35, and, naturally, we were the first people there. Italians have a different conception of time as well... However, by 9:30 the first plate came out, and there was free wine and water to amuse ourselves with before the food arrived. (DON'T TAKE FOR GRANTED THE FREE WATER AT RESTAURANTS. IN FACT, DRINK AN EXTRA GLASS FOR ME THE NEXT TIME YOU GO OUT. WATER IS NOT FREE HERE.) The whole event was similar to a pep rally. Chants were chanted, songs were sung, and comrades had camaraderie. By the time the three course dinner was finished, everyone was sufficiently pumped up and happy. After the meal, there was a live band that played much to the American's delight--we had needed an outlet for our pent up dance energy. (Backstory: all the clubs in Arezzo are closed in the summer, so all the ragazzi that are close to our age go out into the country where, supposedly, the summer clubs are located. Thus, none of us had any opportunity to dance whilst coming to Europe, because none of us had gone to these places.) It was a very fun experience.

The following day was the day of the actual Joust, heralded (naturally...) by canon-fire at 7 am. By 8 am, the streets were filled with people who were chanting and yelling at the top of their lungs. By 9 am, the parades started and continued the entire rest of the day, complete with drum corps and trumpeters. During the day, I was at the University practicing and having coachings, and by the time I was done around five in the afternoon, the streets were even more crowded, the parades more enthusiastic, the yelling louder. After going back home and dressing in our quarter's colors (hence the obnoxious combination of red and green in my pictures), we grabbed a bite to eat at a local pizzeria. It's clear that we as very slow to learn cultural differences, because we showed up to the Piazza Grande, where the Joust was located, at 8:15 because the starting time was labelled at 8:30, and we certainly wouldn't want to miss the beginning. . .

. . . When the show actually started at 9:30, we were quite ready for it. The festivities began with some gymnastics feats that involved men in tights and flags. Quite interesting. Then came the flag throwing portion. If anyone has ever seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, it was quite similar to when the Polish boy was throwing his flags, etc. However, this show lasted about fifteen minutes, and at any given point, there were probably about thirty flags in the air. One one was dropped during the entire spectacle which was pretty impressive to say the least. Once the flagmen had finished their display, each quarter's band marched into the square. By this time, the open part of the square, the place where the spectators were not, was getting quite full and quite rowdy--in addition to the spectators rowdiness. (You'll have to check my pictures to get a feel for it.)

The actual joust was a bit confusing. If I understood it correctly, the rules are as follows: Each quarter has two jousters. One at a time, the jousters coerce their horses to ride into a mess of noise, colors, and people (which actually is a bit sad, because the part of the square where the horses start is where most of the people from one of the quarters stand, so they purposefully attempt to scare the horses, and it sometimes takes several minutes before the horses summon up the courage to start galloping). Once begun, the jousters ride their horses up the hill and joust what looks like a big metal Italian person who is on a swivel. When you hit the dummy, it swings around hits the rider in the back with the suspended weights (which really has no influence on the scoring, but is extremely funny to watch). On the other side of the weights is a plate that is divided into 5 sections like a target. Points are scored by hitting the lance against this plate, causing the metal Italian dude to spin around, and hit the rider. By this time, the whole square has erupted, and nobody knows the actual score of the joust, because it's almost impossible to see. After about two minutes of anxious waiting, the score is announced--to much elation and much depression. The process is repeated seven more times. The quarter with the most points in the end wins.

It was all a big blur. After every joust, the people in the square (who, mind you, are dressed in faux-medieval gear) run and start arguing with the judges. At one point their was a Jerry Springer-esque brawl where the police, who looked quite odd in their normal garb surrounded by medieval men, actually had to break up the fight. In the end, the Porto Crucifera team tied for second with 8 points, so it was a sad night for our quarter but still quite exciting overall. The party went on the entire night.

It was certainly a night to remember. Wow.

More later.