The Horns party (part 2)

Ok, so we had seen the posters and after talking to the locals my best interpretation was that there would be a parade when the men who had been horned and all the rest of the male followers would call on "women" to select the best one for them.

The dozen or so "horned" men would each carry a placard although we weren't sure whether the placards showed their attributes, was a wish list or contained disparaging comments regarding their wives..

Then there would be a street party and it was free to attend!

So we went out for dinner in a local restaurant and this was happening next door.

The boys were getting warmed up!

Then the parade started and of course there were chants and songs and I sang along heartily having no idea what we were singing, but it was all good fun.

Finally we arrived at a corner and 3 guys climbed up a ladder and the MC grabbed a big funnel and started speaking. He was very funny or so it seemed, but his speech went for almost 45 minutes.

You should note the big guy with the beard. He was the grand poohbah and the thing in his hand was a metre long bottle of "bulls blood", the good wine only to be drunk by the horned men and dignitaries.

This picture needs no caption.

So we had some roasted chestnuts and drank some of their home brew wine for 1Euro a cup. Frankly it was bloody awful, think raspberry janola!

But the chief took a shine to someone...

Then Rachel made her move!

The bull's blood was about 1000 times better than the other brew.

But after a big night we had to run and catch our train back to Riomaggiore or walk the 10km or so home.

It was all good fun with only a couple of casualties....