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The event:
The Christmas market of Austrian memory has become commonplace across the alpine
arc and since Sauris shares the same roots it had no choice but to organise a market of its own.
But in Sauris it has taken on magical and evocative connotations because this isn't somewhere you
just happen to pass through; when you come here it's because that is what you have decided to
do and once you get to Sauris di Sopra, at the top of the Lumiei valley at 1400 metres,
it seems almost as though the world ends there. You feel close to heaven;
a heaven where, when the weather is good, the clear blue skies behind the white peaks of
the surrounding mountains touch the soul and inspire the camera-sporting traveller.
Over the long weekend of the 8th December (the religious holiday of the Immaculate Conception),
in Sauris di Sopra a traditional market is set up with stalls in the main square, down the main
street and in several hamlets, for shopping with a difference. Products are on sale which are not
easy to find on the consumerist large-scale retail market since they are the outcome of long and
patient craftwork, carried out with love and passion.
Christmas decorations, tapestries, dolls, ceramics and dried flowers, not to mention the local
embroidery "made in Friuli", the "scarpets" or cloth slippers which a few years back were launched at
Milanese fashion shows, adorning twirling models on the catwalk wearing clothes designed by the famous
Giorgio Armani.
And then there are the agricultural and food products: ham, salami, cheeses, sweets and cakes,
honey, officinal herbs, grappa and wine.
The three-day market becomes a showcase for demonstrations of the trades which at one time guaranteed
survival during the long cold winter: the preparation of sauerkraut, milk, wood and cloth, skills that
in some cases are still used today. Traditional bagpipe music animates streets and public places and a
small exhibition of objects and images from the traditional "Trail of the Star" is shown to the accompaniment
of Christmas songs.
Of course, Father Christmas is also invited to take part and, we are certain, for the joy of the
little children he'll be there on board his own personal "Ferrari", the inevitable sleigh.
It was he who suggested organising an evening of stargazing with expert astrophiles, to discover the
beauty and mystery of the heavenly vault and search, at least for an hour or so, to stop time and forget
the frenzy of every day life. And as any gastronome knows, another place where time can be made to stand
still is at table, so some space is also reserved for them, in a delightful gazebo full of local cuisine
ready for the tasting. |
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