The 29th of July is the Saints Day for Martha who was the sister of Mary and Lazarus of Bethany, a village about three kilometres from Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. In honour of sharing a name with Santa Marta, the town of Marta celebrates in her honour. The celebrations start with a Procession at night by the fisherman in their boats on the lake and a procession along the streets of Marta on the evening beforehand. The next day is considered a local holiday with everyone in a festive mood with a large market during the day and culminating with a magnificent Firework display at 11pm. Today I am sharing with you a few of my photos from the procession and a video taken by a contact of mine.
This event took place on the evening of my cousin's arrival to spend a long weekend with us, so we collected her from the airport and went directly to Trattoira da la Jolanda for supper which is right on the lakeside. This is the restaurant you may have noticed in photos of posts on the Marta Lakeside Renovations recently. We knew that from here we would have excellent views both of the procession on the water and the one on the street as it moved along the front to the Fishermans port where the blessing takes place.
The procession commences its passage along the lakeside with a few fireworks.
The processions are taking place simultaneously which is why my photos jump from shore to lake and back again. We certainly had an excellent vantage point at Jolanda's
Santa Marta Procession: July 28th 2010
webtony1 Festa della patrona Santa Marta a Marta prov. di Viterbo, a cura di Antonio Fontana Feast of the Patron Saint Martha, province of Viterbo, edited by Anthony Fontana. Please take five minutes to view this video as it gives I feel an excellent portrayal of the event and our beautiful town of Marta. I am grateful to Antonio for making this available to share.
There are also a few more photos in My Flickr Album Santa Marta - 28th July 2010 and tomorrow I will post some Firework photos from the following evening.
Looks like an interesting evening. Great night photos. Diane
ReplyDeleteThanks Diane, it is a shame you are unable to watch the video though :(
ReplyDeleteGood Morning LindyLou Sweetie...
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful trip you have taken me on. I have so enjoyed this. I love seeing the priests in the streets and were those nuns also? They looked so crisp.
Loved the boats on the lake. What a beautiful sight for my eyes this morning. Loved the fireworks also. What a celebration. I thank you so much for sharing with me.
Have a gorgeous day sweet friend. Country hugs and much love, Sherry
What a wonderful way to spend the weekend , in this lovely town, with a Festa going on :-) I think I could manage that !!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to view all this from your lakeside supper. Have always enjoyed seeing festive lights on boats at night; am not sure why, but there is something captivating about watching the reflections in the water.
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy your travel pictures, it is like having a peep at another part of the world.
ATC's - artist trading cards - in my case NATC -non artist... Just a fun swap of a card (designated size) that you create. There are various groups that do this. There are some ladies that do have shops and they swap with other shop owners - crafters, etc. The group I swap with is very new with only July and August swaps so far. Has few rules and you can participate as much or as little as you choose.
Sherry - The fireworks were just a taster, the next days celebrations culminated in a huge display, posting photos tomorrow. Yes those are nuns you see with the children.
ReplyDeleteAnne - I think you would love it :)
Mya - We definitely picked the right restaurant that evening, from past experience we knew it was a good place to be that evening. Thanks for the explanation about ATC.
I usually make it to at least one patron day saint celebration when I am south, but this year I've hardly made any plans to budge from the beach. Very odd for me, and I can't even blame the 'heat' because it's not that hot, at least not like the last two years here. So I have enjoyed the photos you shared, that will have to suffice this time around. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely lake and old town you have in Marta!
ReplyDeleteWe just got home and I started missing Italy on the plane :( I will have to live via your wonderful pictures :) Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteMickey
Bev - Enjoy the beach while you can I say, although I agree it has not been so hot this summer and it started so late, certainly here in Lazio. Glad you like the photos.
ReplyDeleteSaretta - We have loved Marta from the time we first discovered it
Mickey - I am so glad you had a good holiday, your posts and photos were lovely.
The photos are great! I know it's very hard to take pictures at night. While in Florence this past June, I saw a procession like this, going around and around the cathedral, but my pictures didn't turn out good.
ReplyDeleteSimony - Thankyou, yes it is difficult. I think I still have a lot to learn about photography. What a shame about your Florence photos, I assume your daytime photos were all ok though, hope so.
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