Monday, September 14, 2009
Maybe it's the fact that I spent all last night talking with friends from home, or maybe it's a result of the first rainy day after two weeks of perfectly beautiful Tuscan weather, but today has been an off-day. It was impossible to focus in class, I didn't get the cappuccino I had been looking forward to because of the rain, and I bummed around all afternoon uncertain of what to do.
The day did pick up when we toured the church and museum of the onda (wave) contrada. Usually closed to the public, the church is a tiny building chock-full of intersting pieces of history. When the Sienese are baptised, they are baptised into both the church and the contrada by the head of the contrada, not a priest. And though the main altar is decorated with intricate ornamentation, the seats face a side altar because that is where their Palio horse is brought in for a blessing before the race. As our director Amanda told us, "The Palio is war. It is not a game, it is war." The horse race is a religion and winning is a necessity.
Below the church is the onda's museum where the general assembly meets. One alcove is decorated with the sculptures of Giovanni Dupré, a famous artist from the contrada. Two other sections exhibit jockey uniforms from past Palios and the final room displays the prize banners given to the winning contrada. One of the banners had the picture of a saint holding the "IHS" symbol now associated with the Jesuits. It turns out that this is one of the patron saints of Siena who created the symbol that was later adopted by the Jesuits, which is why I've seen it all over the city including on the fortress wall.
I got soaked on the way back from the contrada and my 3 euro umbrella proved almost entirely useless, but it looks like it's cleared up a bit which is good because tonight some girls in our program are hosting a "wine and cheese" night. I decided to treat myself and bought a big bottle of diet coke. Wine is cheaper than soda here, and I've been missing my d-coke like crazy, so tonight I'll sip on my classy soda instead of wine :)
Maybe it's the fact that I spent all last night talking with friends from home, or maybe it's a result of the first rainy day after two weeks of perfectly beautiful Tuscan weather, but today has been an off-day. It was impossible to focus in class, I didn't get the cappuccino I had been looking forward to because of the rain, and I bummed around all afternoon uncertain of what to do.
The day did pick up when we toured the church and museum of the onda (wave) contrada. Usually closed to the public, the church is a tiny building chock-full of intersting pieces of history. When the Sienese are baptised, they are baptised into both the church and the contrada by the head of the contrada, not a priest. And though the main altar is decorated with intricate ornamentation, the seats face a side altar because that is where their Palio horse is brought in for a blessing before the race. As our director Amanda told us, "The Palio is war. It is not a game, it is war." The horse race is a religion and winning is a necessity.
Below the church is the onda's museum where the general assembly meets. One alcove is decorated with the sculptures of Giovanni Dupré, a famous artist from the contrada. Two other sections exhibit jockey uniforms from past Palios and the final room displays the prize banners given to the winning contrada. One of the banners had the picture of a saint holding the "IHS" symbol now associated with the Jesuits. It turns out that this is one of the patron saints of Siena who created the symbol that was later adopted by the Jesuits, which is why I've seen it all over the city including on the fortress wall.
I got soaked on the way back from the contrada and my 3 euro umbrella proved almost entirely useless, but it looks like it's cleared up a bit which is good because tonight some girls in our program are hosting a "wine and cheese" night. I decided to treat myself and bought a big bottle of diet coke. Wine is cheaper than soda here, and I've been missing my d-coke like crazy, so tonight I'll sip on my classy soda instead of wine :)
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