Battle of the Oranges

Battle of the Oranges

The Battle of the Oranges is a carnival and festival in the Northern Italian city of Ivrea, which includes a tradition of throwing of oranges between organized groups. It is the largest food fight in Italy.[1]

The Asso di Picche, founded in 1947 and wearing a black Ace of Spades on red, is the oldest of the nine pedestrian teams of orange throwers that partake in the Battle of the Oranges. Here they battle against one of the approximately forty Aranceri Carri da Getto - orange-throwers in carts.

History of festival
The festival's origins are somewhat unclear. A popular account has it that it commemorates the city's defiance against the city's tyrant, who is either a member of the Ranieri family[2] or a conflation of the 12th-century Ranieri di Biandrate and the 13th-century Marquis William VII of Montferrat.[3] This tyrant attempted to rape a young commoner (often specified as a miller's daughter[4] ) on the eve of her wedding, supposedly exercising the (possibly fictional) droit de seigneur. His plan backfired when the young woman instead decapitated the tyrant, after which the populace stormed and burned the palace.[5] Each year, a young girl is chosen to play the part of Violetta, the defiant young woman.[1] [6]

Stockpile of ammunition for the upcoming battle

Every year the citizens remember their liberation with the Battle of the Oranges where teams of "Aranceri" (orange handlers) on foot throw oranges (representing ancient arrows and stones) against Aranceri riding in carts,

Battle of the Oranges representing Arduino's allies. During the 19th-century French occupation of Italy the Carnival of Ivrea was modified to add representatives of the French army who help the miller's wife. The carnival may have started in the 12th century and also includes a large bonfire.[2]

Celebration
The core celebration is based on a locally famous Battle of the Oranges that involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into nine combat teams, who throw oranges at each other with considerable violence during the traditional carnival days: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The carnival takes place in February: it ends on the night of "Fat Tuesday" with a solemn funeral. Traditionally, at the end of the silent march that closes the carnival the "General" says goodbye to everyone with the classical phrase in dialect "arvedse a giobia a n bot", translated as "we'll see each other on Thursday at one", referring to the Thursday the carnival will start the next year.[7]

A scene from the 'battle'

Miller's daughter
One of the citizens is elected Mugnaia. The legend has that a miller's daughter (a "Mugnaia") once refused to accept the "right" of the local duke to spend a night with each newly wed woman and chopped his head off. Today the carriages represent the duke's guard and the orange throwers the revolutionaries. Spectators are not allowed to throw A carriage pulled by four horses that will be used oranges, but visitors are allowed to in the battle enlist in the teams. If they wear a red hat they are considered part of the revolutionaries and will not have oranges thrown at them. Originally beans were thrown, then apples. Later, in the 19th century, oranges came to represent the duke's chopped off head. The origin of the tradition to throw oranges is not well understood, particularly as oranges do not grow in the foothills of the Italian Alps and must be imported from Sicily. In 1994 an estimated 265000 kilograms ( lb) of oranges were brought to the city, mainly coming from the leftovers of the winter crop in southern Italy.

Battle of the Oranges

Notes
[1] "Italy's Biggest Battle of the Oranges" (http:/ / www. spiegel. de/ international/ europe/ 0,1518,570471,00. html). Der Spiegel. 2008-06-08. . Retrieved 2010-02-15. [2] "Battle of Oranges at Italian carnival" (http:/ / news. opodo. co. uk/ NewsDetails/ 2007-01-16/ Battle_of_Oranges_at_Italian_carnival). Odopo. 2007-01-16. . Retrieved 2010-02-15. [3] "The Carnival of Ivrea: Sights & Activities" (http:/ / www. italytraveller. com/ en/ c/ the-carnival-of-ivrea). Italy Traveller. . Retrieved 2009-07-19. [4] Bredt, H.; et al. (2005). Itali (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=fJ7M9S9DsacC& pg=PA239& dq=ivrea+ festival& lr=). ANWB Media Boeken. p.239. ISBN9789018019518. . [5] Kiefer, Peter (2007-02-19). "In Italian town, civics lesson from annual orange battles" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 02/ 19/ world/ europe/ 19iht-web. 0219italy. 4642863. html). New York Times. . Retrieved 2009-07-19. [6] Simonis, Damien; et al. (2006). Italy (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Mz0wT1aIdeEC& pg=PA244& dq=ivrea+ festival). Lonely Planet. p.244. ISBN9781741043037. . [7] "Marcia funebre ; Storico Carnevale di Ivrea" (http:/ / www. storicocarnevaleivrea. it/ ?page_id=514). . Retrieved 7 March 2010.

External links
Battaglia delle arance Orange Battle (http://www.storicocarnevaleivrea.it/English/?page_id=109) - part of the carnival's official website the nine teams of Aranceri a piedi (http://www.storicocarnevaleivrea.it/English/?page_id=106) Italians battle with oranges on Valentines day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8515635.stm) 15 February 2010 BBC News, 1 minute 25 second video Italy hosts 'Battle of the Oranges' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/also_in_the_news/7905345.stm) 23 February 2009 BBC News, 51 second video

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Battle of the Oranges Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456199219 Contributors: 84user, Attilios, ChildofMidnight, Dabomb87, Dogerty12, Drmies, Hans Adler, Hmains, Ian Spackman, LadyofShalott, Leonard^Bloom, Malleus Fatuorum, Nuking the Fridge, Trident13, 8 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Ivrea carnevale.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ivrea_carnevale.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Attilios, Laurom File:Ivrea Carnevale Munizioni Battaglia.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ivrea_Carnevale_Munizioni_Battaglia.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: Laurom File:Borghetto Battle of Oranges - Battaglia delle Arance 2007 - Ivrea.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Borghetto_Battle_of_Oranges_-_Battaglia_delle_Arance_2007_-_Ivrea.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Gi File:Ivrea Carnevale Carro da Getto.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ivrea_Carnevale_Carro_da_Getto.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: Laurom

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/