Parade of the Puppets - blowing up statues for fun!

In Italy, every august the country is taken by festival fever and there are hundreds of processions, parades and parties all across the country. It is fiesta season and many businesses will close for a few weeks. All along the coastline small towns and villages prepare for their own individual celebrations.

In the town of Cappela Sul Tavo, the Palio of the Pupe celebrates in their own way with a procession of effigies which are paraded through the streets at night and ends with a huge fireworks display where the beautiful figures are exploded and destroyed by fireworks.

This is similar in outward appearance to the Spanish celebration of Las Fallas where beautiful effigies are also paraded and exploded in extraordinary style. Our European neighbours seem to take great pleasure in spending a long time and a lot of energy in creating objects of beauty and then exploding them by filling them with fireworks and setting them on fire. And who are we to argue.