What is Battle of the Oranges?
The '''Battle of the Oranges''' is a festival in [[Ivrea]] in northern [[Italy]]. The townspeople throw [[orange (fruit)|orange]]s at each other. The festival happens every year. It lasts three days. It is right before [[Shrove Tuesday]], which means it is right before the [[Catholic]] [[Lent]] season. [[Legend]] says the festival started when the townspeople killed an evil [[duke]]. The duke wanted to have [[sexual intercourse|sex]] with women on their wedding nights, so the people started fighting. A miller's daughter named Violetta cut off the duke's head. The orange fights are between people pretending to be the duke's men and people pretending to be Violetta's helpers.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|publisher=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-51474989|access-date=January 9, 2021|title=In pictures: The battle of the oranges|date=February 20, 2020}}</ref> The battle uses about 500,000 kilos of oranges each year. Nine teams fight on foot against about 50 carriages. People who don't want to fight can wear red caps to show they are just watching.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dina|date=2024-12-19|title=Battle of the Oranges: Ivrea's Historic Carnival|url=https://myprettytravels.com/italy/northern-italy/battle-of-the-oranges-ivrea/|access-date=2025-01-10|website=My Pretty Travels|language=en-US}}</ref> Some families have been part of the same team for many generations. There was no festival in 1915-18, 1942-45 nor 2021. ==Related pages== *[[Shrove Tuesday]] *[[Mardi Gras]] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Festivals in Italy]]