Tools of Conviviality
One hermit, a village, a fire and hundreds of bells.
Thanks to: Flaminio Beretta, Luca Bergamini, Antonio, Claudio Cristini, Elisangela and all the people shaking their bells
Recorded in: Ardesio
LONG STORY SHORT
It’s January 31st, the last of the blackbird days, for centuries the coldest of the year. Radiolina begins its Periple in Ardesio, a shadowy village in the Seriana valley, in the province of Bergamo, squeezed between the whitewashed peaks of the Timogno mountains and Monte Secco, that same peak on which 60 years ago a group of friends placed a large metal cross, transformed into a wooden one by the dreaded Zenerù. The same terrifying Gennaione (big January), who with raganelle, spoons, cowbells and any contraption capable of smashing ears, the entire population, children, mothers, schoolteachers, the elderly, merchants, carpenters, seamstresses, shepherds, ranchers and masons, escorts up to the final Scassada, to the huge bonfire, which will burn until late into the night. The celebration will be heard all the way up until the snow, flooding the streets with jingles, peals, chainsaws, shouts, slams and sirens.
Who knows, maybe the fest will reach those ears, well covered under a coarse woolen handmade cap of the hermit Flaminio, who after this morning’s blessing, sparkling wines, ravioli and hugs, can go back up there, to his stone frugal alcove by the edge of the woods, to enjoy the sparks of winter’s farewell and to imagine a drawing, a sketch of a simple structure, to be turned into a enormous puppet, into a collective feast, perhaps the only good reason to come down, next year, and get close to this incredible, visceral ritual that makes resonating the entire valley.