Mezzaquaresima

MEZZAQUARESIMA (Mid-Lent). - Because of the rigor of Lent, the custom arose of observing at the exact midpoint, which falls on a Thursday, a day of carnival revelry. A large puppet, variously adorned, representing the old woman, displayed on a platform in the public square or carried about on a cart, and then burned or sawed in two (whence the name Segavecchia given to the m.), amid the jubilation of the crowd and especially of the children, forms the center of the festival. In various places in France and northern Italy, instead of one old woman there are several, with the same character and the same end. The meaning of the custom coincides with that of the burning of Carnival: in the puppet are ideally concentrated all the evils, physical and moral, of the community, accumulated during the year, and by its destruction they are meant to be eliminated. Nor is the meaning different of the custom, on that day, in northeastern Europe of throwing into the water a dummy representing death. It is therefore a New Year rite, of elimination and renewal, even if today the people no longer have the slightest awareness of it.

The revelry of that day likewise has a carnival character, with the procession of carts from which groups of merrymakers throw oranges, confetti and coriandoli (Romagna), with dances, scenes of allegorical or satirical subject (Reggio Emilia), with the testament and death of the Old Woman (Verona). The foods typical of m. also recall those of Carnival: crostoli in Friuli, polestone at Stradella (Piedmont). In Tuscany, profane befante are recited, whose main characters are the old man, the old woman and their son, which conclude with the sawing in two of the old woman: similar performances also took place in the Verona area. In the Marche it was customary to give a charivari to elderly women in search of a husband. In France, in the Pas-de-Calais, girls were put up for auction: the ceremony took place in a meadow and the young women were given in marriage to the highest bidder. In Florence, children still attach little paper ladders to the backs of women and accompany the joke with shouts and mockery.

In Paris and throughout the Île de France, the festival was organized by the guild of laundresses; likewise in Munich, apprentice launderers-to-be carried in procession a goblet-tankard and a barrel of wine and went to drink toasts to the king and the leading citizens of the city. On this occasion a queen of m. was elected, and in some places, such as Bruges and Antwerp, very large pastries were made depicting the count and countess of m., with an evident transfer of customs relating to May Day. To these may also be traced the crossbowmen's contests, the palli and other challenges of a warlike character in various localities of France, Piedmont and elsewhere.

Paolo Toschi