In a few minutes all was over.
There was a fair in connection with this feast, the most notable part
of which was dishes of all sorts set on tables or spread on the grass
of the pleasant piazza of St. Peter's, the Benedictine church, with no
roof over but the sky. The brown and yellow-green earthenware for
kitchen use would have delighted any housekeeper. We bought some tiny
saucepans with covers, and capable of holding a small teacupful, for a
cent each. Italian housekeepers make great use of earthen saucepans and
jars for cooking. One scarcely ever sees tin--iron almost never. In
rich houses copper is much used, but brown ware is seen everywhere.
The next notable festa, and the great feast of Asisi, is the Pardon,
called variously the Pardon of Asisi, the Pardon of St. Francis and the
Porziuncola.
In the old times, and particularly when this indulgence could be
obtained only in Asisi, the concourse of people was so great that there
were not roofs to cover them, and many slept in the open air. But since
the favor has been extended to other churches, as well as from other
reasons, the number is greatly diminished, and consists chiefly of
people in _villeggiatura_ near by and of a few hundred Neapolitan
peasants, who with undiminished fervor come to obtain the Pardon, and
whose singular performance, called _gran ruota_ (the great wheel),
everybody goes to see.
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