by Nicole Martinelli
posted Aug 17 @8:33 a.m.

A horse died after breaking its neck and getting trampled by four horses in Siena’s famous Palio race, reopening debate about Italy’s celebrations involving animals. The bareback race in Tuscany, dating back nearly 350 years, is arguably the best-known tradition centering around animals it is by no means the only one celebrated each year by Italians.

The Palio draws crowds of between 30,000 and 40,000 every year — but it also inevitably draws blood, opponents say. Animal rights’ groups estimate 50 horses have died over the last 20 years. In last year’s race two horses died.
The palio incident is the latest clash between Italian traditions and modern sensibilities. Towns throughout the Bel Paese use animals for an estimated 1,000 traditional rites yearly — including donkeys, oxen, turkeys, doves, snakes, pigs, geese, cows, frogs — and animal rights’ groups are trying to put a stop to it.

Florence, for example, has already responded to pressure by replacing live animals in both the Cricket Festival and the Scoppio del Carro, where a dove used to be sent speeding into the cathedral tied to a lit rocket. A similar ritual takes place every year in the Umbrian town of Orvieto, where protests have become an integral part of the Palombella Festival for Pentecost.

“It’s not a celebration any more but a battlefield,” said journalist Daniele Di Loreto. “I have the suspicion that more people show up for the fighting than the Palombella — like car races, it’s much more exciting if there’s an accident.”

The bone of contention: a live dove, symbolizing the holy spirit, is tied to the center of a wheel of fireworks and placed on a steel cable. The short, albeit not very peaceful trip for the dove involves gliding down 300 meters with fireworks exploding all around. End of the line is the sacristy of the 13th-century cathedral — if fallout from the fireworks lights flames on the heads of the Virgin and Apostles it’s a good omen for the coming year. The dove, shaken but usually still alive and unharmed, is then removed from the contraption.

Local bishop Lucio Decio Grandoni, main opponent of the animal rights groups, maintains the dove doesn’t suffer. Following tradition, after the wild ride, the bird is given to a bride and groom to keep — and at least doesn’t risk ending up dinner. As a concession, the dove won’t be tied to the wheel anymore but placed in a glass box. For now, it looks like the Palombella Festival will continue as usual: the local court archived a formal complaint by protesters after last year’s celebrations.

For Italy’s Antivivisection League, these traditions may date back centuries but their treatment of animals has no place in modern society.

“These are sacred-profane rituals, usually in honor of some local saint or Madonna, linked to primitive fears of famine, epidemics,” said Mauro Bottigelli of LAV. “But no holy spirit or expression of sincere devotion gives people the right to crucify a dove in Orvieto or sacrifice an ox in Roccavaldina or slit the throat of goats in San Luca.”

For religious rites, groups advocate substituting the animal with a stand-in papier-m?ch? version. Animal rights groups lobby hard to ban altogether various races and contests involving animals. Given the number of these horse-and-pony shows, it may take some time — protests didn’t stop the recent turkey race in the province of Palermo but the geese contest in Como, part of medieval celebrations featuring jousting contests and boat races, won’t take place this year in September. ?1999-2004 zoomata.com
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