Il Falò della Befana.

Roger

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Last night I went to a local version of this national festival in Italy, every year on Jan 5 they celebrate the New Year by burning off the last. Originally a pagan ritual it has been converted to Catholicism and it is a cross that tops the pyre, instead of an effigy of a witch....although it seems to have retained the original name. Also traditionally, cake and vin brulee (hot wine) are consumed to assist with the process...it's free too, so you can imagine the chaos at the points of access. I didn't take any photos of Italians behaving badly...they are supposed to donate to the poor too but don't.
1 Children get to light the pyre.
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2 People like to be close to the action.
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3 However at this point they did step back.
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4 Starting to settle a little.
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5 I love how the cold air affects thermals.
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6 The crowd.
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7 Time to get close again...it was minus 1° C, not that cold really.
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8 Still a big fire.
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9 The feasting goes on until the fire dies...we went home after this shot, picked up a pizza on the way as is was too difficult to get near the food here lol.
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Wow.. Really nice.. The white/blue light making rays into the scene is interesting.
 
This is interesting for me to see. I had heard about "Befana" as a kind of "Christmas Witch" (though if you look at it closely, those two WORDS don't even go together... :scratch: ), but I didn't know if Befana was also the day for the presents? I know that 6 Jan, Day of the Magi, used to be Day for the Presents in Spain, but if that is still the case today, when traditions disappear more and more, I don't know.

What I did not know about was the pyres.
Impressive sight! Wow. And you captured both fire and its size as well as the crowd (and how they get careless, or get pushed into carefullness by the mere heat of the roaring fire) very well. (Well, to be honest: I wouldn't expect any less from you ;) ;) ;) !!!).

I guess the crowds were like they were in my village on the two days of the fireworks. The second day was just INSANE! But the fireworks here don't follow any tradition at all, it's just an advertising thing of the pyrotechnician from our place...
 

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