Sweeps Festivals
The London boys had one day's holiday a year, the first of May, (Mayday) International Labour Day. They celebrated by parading through the streets, dancing and twisting with Jack in the Green, merging several folk traditions. There is also a Sweeps Festival in Santa Maria Maggiore, in Italy and in Rochester in Kent where the tradition was revived in 1980.
Read more about this topic: Chimney Sweep
Famous quotes containing the words sweeps and/or festivals:
“The infernal storm, eternal in its rage, sweeps and drives the spirits with its blast; it whirls them, lashing them with punishment. When they are swept back past their place of judgment then come the shrieks, laments, and anguished cries; there they blaspheme God’s almighty power.”
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)