MEZZAQUARESIMA. — To mitigate the rigour of Lent, a day of carnivalesque revelry was introduced at its midpoint, which falls on a Thursday. A large effigy, variously adorned, representing an old woman, is displayed on a platform in the public square or paraded through the streets on a cart, and then burned or sawn apart (hence the name *Segavecchia* given to the custom), amid the rejoicing of the crowd and especially of the children. In various places in France and northern Italy, instead of one old woman there are several, with the same character and the same fate. The meaning of the custom coincides with that of the burning of Carnival: in the effigy are ideally concentrated all the physical and moral evils of the community, accumulated over the year, and its destruction is intended to eliminate them. Nor is the meaning different from that of the custom, on the same day, in northeastern Europe, of casting a puppet representing Death into the water. It is therefore a New Year’s rite of elimination and renewal, even if today the people have no awareness of II.
The revelry of this day also has a carnivalesque character, with processions of carts from which merrymakers throw oranges, sugared almonds, and confetti (Romagna), dances, and scenes of allegorical or satirical subject matter (Reggio Emilia), as well as the “testament” and the “death” of the Old Woman (Verona). Even the typical foods of *Mezzaquaresima* recall those of Carnival: *crostoli* in Friuli, the *polentone* at Stradella (Piedmont). In Tuscany, secular *befanate* are performed whose principal characters are the old man, the old woman, and their son, concluding with the sawing apart of the old woman; similar performances also took place in the Veronese region. In the Marches, it was customary to ring the bells for elderly women seeking husbands. In France, at Pas-de-Calais, girls were auctioned off: the ceremony took place in a meadow, and the young women were given in marriage to the highest bidder. In Florence, even today, boys attach paper ladders to the backs of elderly women and accompany the prank with shouts and mockery.
In Paris and throughout Italy, the feast was organized by the guild of launderers; likewise in Munich, apprentice launderers carried in procession a trough-cup and a barrel of wine and went to toast the king and the city’s leading citizens. On this occasion a *regina di mezzaquaresima* (Queen of Mid-Lent) was elected, and in some places, such as Bruges and Antwerp, enormous cakes were made depicting the Count and Countess of Mid-Lent, clearly transferring customs related to the calendar. To these may also be traced the competitions of crossbowmen, the *palii*, and other challenges of a martial nature in various localities of France, Piedmont, and elsewhere.