30th international gathering of chimney sweepers
Cloudy skies and rain may have obscured most of northern Italy over the weekend, yet in the town of Santa Maria Maggiore in Piemonte, you wouldn't have believed that it mattered in the least bit. In this alpine community just 8 miles from Switzerland's southern boundary, chimney sweepers (spazzacamini) from around the world came together once again for the annual September event. Representatives hailed from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Romania, Lithuania and Estonia. Japan and the Republic of Moldova were also said to be among the soot-faced participants but I saw neither (for the latter it was because I had no idea what their country's flag looked like).
A great crowd showed up for the parade on Sunday but the rain did manage to turn a few visitors away after it was over. It would've been nice to explore the town better and to visit the museum dedicated to chimney sweepers. More photos on flickr.
scribbled from the chestnut forest by Rowena... at 9:29 AM
14 Comments:
too bad about the weather :( sounded like a fun event though.
Kat - it did cut things short and I missed out on some more photo ops, but next time if we go I have to remember to rub on some black face paint. If you go there with a clean face, one of those chimney sweepers will single you out and "annoint" you on the spot with a nice black handswipe!
What an awesome event!! You'll have to start telling me in advance, so I can come too!!
Chiara - huge brain *burp* on my part, as the thought only occurred to me late Saturday night when I checked google's suggested route from here to there. Mea culpa...what a goof....will be more on top of things next time!
We camped in this area quite a few years ago and visited the town. We did not get to see the parade, so it's nice to see some of your photos! Thanks for sharing.
What a jolly group!
Shame about the weather, but they look as they don't mind at all! What an interesting parade.. not heard of that before. :-)
How fun! I feel like watching Marry Poppins now.
The Wanderfull Traveler
CarolineZ - I'd love to go back this coming weekend when the grape festival begins in the neighboring town of Masera, but in this month there are so many interesting events to grab your attention...too many in fact!
Welshcakes - I'll have to say that we really loved meeting the Scots who just walked right up to chat!
Anne - I purposely left out all the boozing bottle-to-the-lips shots, but really, this group was in full party mode.
WT - and don't forget about singing the Chim chim cher-ee song.
Trust you to not only attend but capture these wonderful traditions! Your blog is the place I come to in order to acquire trivia on different cultures! Thank you! I love this capture, Rowena! You can feel the energy in this shot!
Bella - I've got my work cut out for me, living in this country. There is always something going on whether it be cultural, historical, traditional, or food-related!
What a fabulous event to introduce us to Rowena, never heard of this before, but what fun. Off to look at photos on Flickr now.
Wow... this is the sort of thing I love! What a great opportunity for a cultural festival.
Emiglia - if you don't mind getting your face smeared with black paint, then this can be a very crazy event. We only saw Sunday's parade but I've read that Saturday has a variety of activities too.
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