The baìo (also known as "Baìo di Sampeyre") is a traditional festival that takes place every five years in the municipality of Sampeyre, in the Valle Varaita in the

province of Cuneo The province of Cuneo (; ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west, it borders the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes), to the north the ...

, Italy. The "Baìo di Sampeyre" was one of the most important and ancient traditional festivals in the Italian

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. The long-awaited return of the festival in the year 2012 began on February 5 and concluded on February 16, the final Thursday before

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

(a day that is also celebrated as

Fat Thursday Fat Thursday is a Christian tradition in some countries marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the days leading up to Ash Wednesday provide the last opportuni ...

Origins and tradition

The tradition's origins date back to between 975 and 980, when teams of

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

, who had penetrated the valley to control the Alpine passes, were driven away by the local population. The festival commemorates the expulsion of the invaders. The Baìo is composed of four parades (or "armies"), coming from the provincial capital, Sampeyre (Piasso), and its three hamlets: Rore (Rure), Calchesio (Chucheis), and Villar (Vilà). Traditionally, only men participated in the parades, and the complicated

costumes Costume is the distinctive style of clothing, dress and/or cosmetics, makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used ...

were woven by the women. The men traditionally interpreted the roles of women, a custom that led to the event being accused of

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

. One of its most important parts is the dance. The Valle Varaita is an important centre for the maintenance and the rediscovery of

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

traditions. The people maintained many traditional dances and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

as well as

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. The sounds of

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

accordions Accordions (from 19th-century German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame). The ess ...

organs In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s and

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

(sonsaina in Occitan) are heard during traditional dances such as , , , , , bureo d'San Martin, , and others.

Script

The events and gatherings of the various parts of the Baìo follow a precise and traditional format. On the second Sunday before

(the Thursday before lent), four processions parade within the villages, except for the inhabitants of Calchesio (in Italy) who go to Sampeyre to meet the cortege of Piasso. The following Sunday the various Baìo start at a time of Sampeyre where the solemn meeting: Abba (the generals, called the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

father) exchange greetings with swords and parade to the square where four groups form and the participants dance. During the procession, the parade meets barriers of logs that symbolize the obstacles left by the

during their flight. These barricades are torn down by sapeurs ("zappatori" in Occitan, and "guastatore" in French) using axes. This is followed by dancing and refreshments. On Fat Thursday, the inhabitants, except those in Villar, parade again from Sampeyre and return to their village for the finale of the party. The "process treasurer" tries to escape with cash with the help of a secretary but is apprehended, tried and pardoned by all of Baìo; they are then transported and retried in Villar where they are

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Characters

Cavalìe – are the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

of villagers, and open the procession of Calchesio and Sampeyre. Tambourn major – leads the procession of Calchesio and Villar, waving a long baton in time to music. Arlequin – is the "Marshal" of the Baìo, who must frighten people to prevent the march. Sarazine – girls waving a white handkerchief as a signal code for the army of liberation, played by very young children. Segnourine – dressed in white to symbolize the end of slavery by Saracens, are played by boys between the ages of 10 and 16 years. Tambourin – A small group who announce the parade with timballos (small drums) and

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

s who also mark the pace of travel. Sapeur – armed with axes, remove the barriers of logs left by fleeing Saracens. Grec – in the parades of Rore, and Calchesio Sampeyre; are young people from 17 to 30 years portraying the Greek prisoners who were freed by the villagers. Escarlinìe – the infantry of villagers, who are armed with clubs decorated with ivy, colored ribbons and bells. Espous – pairs of young married couples, who are confined to one for the procession of Rore. Segnouri – the wealthy who can now live freely without fear of looting by Saracens, the parades of Rore, Sampeyre and Villar. Sounadour – the parade of musicians who play for dancing, occasionally for more than twenty-four hours without interruption. Uzuart – guards accompanying the Alum, armed with swords or rifles. Granatìe – accompany the Tezourìe (treasurer) and executioner - only Villar. Morou (Moor) – travel by mule as the prisoners are freed from the Saracens. Turc – Saracens taken prisoner, chained, traveling on foot and are only Sampeyre. Viéi and Viéio (the old man and the old woman) – characters who close the parade in a ridiculous manner, wheezing and pretending to be unable to keep pace. They are dressed in rags and carry a basket containing a child (a doll) and a of wine. Cantinìe (cantiniere) – run up and down the parade serving drinks.

Alum and Abà

The Alum represent the "military" of the Baìo and are elected every five years. Each time a Baìo ends, new Alum are elected. The two new Alum start with the rank of 'Tenent' (lieutenant) Sampeyre, Calchesio and Villar, while Rore is called 'Soutportobandiero' (low flagbearer). Within ten years, the two Alum of Rore become 'Portobandiero' (flagbearers) and finally Abà, the army commanders and organizers of the festival (who are responsible for running from house to house every night during the months preceding the festival, and agree with every family on the roles to be filled). After being Abà, the two become 'Secretaries' (instructed to keep records on Baìo) and 'Tezourìe' (treasurers, who are responsible for managing the funds for the feast). Once they have finished their careers, they are free to take on another role or start a new career.

References

External links