Articles > Euopean Festivals

Europe may have joined in a Union, but all its different countries have their own summer feasts and festivals which display their peculiar individuality. Kamin Mohammadi joins the party.

The Ardia, Sedilo, Sardinia, Italy

High up above the small town of Sedilo, stands a simple church consecrated to Saint Constantine which becomes the focus of the wildest religious festival in Sardinia – the Ardia. Under the guise of commemorating Constantine's victory over Maxentius in 312AD, a monumental horse race is held in which the wild quest for a flag is meant to represent the triumph of Christian values. In reality, the festival is a chance for the men of Sedilo to show off their riding skills – the festival’s roots date back to pre-history.

The race starts in the town square, then they ride up to the Sanctuary – the way is lined by stalls selling traditional Sardinian garb, music and roasting suckling pigs for the thousands of locals who attend – where the fun really starts. The standard bearer sets the pace and the other horsemen gallop to overtake him – something that two flanking flag bearers try to prevent with big sticks. No-one wears any protective clothing over their traditional costumes and the sense of danger is added to by the gunshots that ring out.

The explosive atmosphere spreads to the crowd which has to try not to get too close – the path is narrow and an overexcited horse can cause havoc and even death. At the final turn they stage a hair-raising race downhill, the sea of bystanders opening to let them through. Afterwards everyone feasts on suckling pig along with much beer and wine.

La Pourcailhade, Trie Sur Baïse, France

Each August in the French hamlet of Trie Sur Baïse this festival honours the pig and all things swine. Organised by the Brotherhood of the Pig, the festival recognises the importance of pigs to this part of France which has long been one of the largest pig-rearing areas in the country and also one of its most dedicated markets.

There are displays in all the shop windows and stalls line the streets of the village displaying all manner of pork goods – in the past the festival has seen the creation of a world-beating 500m sausage.

There is also music and dancing into the night but the most popular part of the day is the competitions: piglet races in which the speediest runts are pitted against each other; a pork sausage-eating contest as well as a competition to see who can eat the most amount of black pudding; a competition for the best piggy outfit for the kids and, the most popular competition of all – the prestigious Cri du Cochon in which contestants must imitate the cries that pigs make at various specific moments in their lives, from birth to feeding to the pleasurable squeaks that accompany reproduction.

Moesgaard Viking Moot, Moesgaard Beach, Aarhus, Denmark

This annual event takes place on the weekend closest to July 29, the feast day of St Olaf, a day that was celebrated as a fair in the Middle Ages and possibly as far back as by the Vikings.

What started as a Viking market, where people came to learn and teach each other Viking handicrafts is now one of the most important Viking festivals in the world, attracting 600 Vikings and 20,000 people from Aarhus alone. For one day the beach outside Aarhus is magically turned into a Viking settlement, with different Viking activities on offer such as archery as well as masses of market stalls selling crafts wrought of iron, wood, leather, silver, wool, amber, glass, willow, and other materials used by Vikings.

Meat is cooked slowly over open fires and 50 people can easily sit in the authentic long tent to drink their beer but the undoubted highlights are the two battles that take place twice a day during the festival. Mighty Viking warriors cross heavy swords while the crowd cheers on while horsemen mounted on Icelandic Ponies - direct descendents of Viking horses – process to show off their costumes and armour and then plunge wildly into the battle.

Festa do Mar, S. João do Estoril Beach, Cascais, Portugal

Portugal is a country with a proud maritime tradition and history and every year the Fishermens' Association of Cascais organises the Festival of the Sea to honour the link with the ocean. Cascais is a beautiful beach resort just 40 minutes by train from Lisbon and popular with hip young Lisboans who love to party here at weekends.

The festival fun includes a procession in true Portuguese style of Our Lady of the Seafarers, when a statue of the Virgin Mary is carried through the town to the beach, complete with colourful costumes and music. At night fireworks light up the beach and there are performances of traditional Portuguese folk songs, the fado which, with its notes of melancholic longing originated with laments sung to the sea.

The fun and games include a bizarre contest in which people bet on which hole a mouse will choose to run down when released. This being southern Europe, no festival is complete without a bull – here young bulls are sent running down the beach and any of the local lads with enough courage or beer inside him tries to grab onto the horns – the prize is the traditional Portuguese delicacy, dried salted cod for which there are reputedly 365 recipes.

The Palio, Siena, Italy

It is hard to believe that a race that lasts all of two minutes can inspire so many weeks’ of eager anticipation and rivalry as Siena’s Palio. Carried out since the Middle Ages in honour of the Virgin Mary and still preceded by hours of costumed processions, this fast and furious horse race is a competition between the different contrade of the city (different areas) and inspires such fierce rivalry that up the day of the race itself people from one contrada will not set foot in another.

The festivities start three days prior to each Palio, although the anticipation starts weeks before. During this time, there are banquets, parades, blessings of the horses and celebrations of all kinds, including a grand feast in the streets of each contrada the night before the race. Contrada colours are worn by the Sienese, and music, singing and drumming rings out day and night. On the day of the race itself, the vast seashell-shaped Campo is filled with crowds and sealed just before the race starts.

As the riders set off, it is of no matter if the jockey is unseated – the first horse past the post wins, with or without a rider. The race is the most intense two minutes most people gathered will experience, with an explosion of cheering and shouting, a high state of excitement that continues for weeks afterwards for the winning contrada.

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