A Chim Chiminey Parade Honors Sweeps and Recollects Previous Horrors
SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE, Italy – They marched through the cobblestone streets waving tall brushes like batons, a peppy – if sooty – bunch that occasionally shouted “spazzacaminoooooo”, Italian for chimney sweeps (with a few additional O’s to emphasize).
On the parade route, children held open plastic bags, hoping to catch the presents thrown by the chimney sweeps as they passed. Some were given candy while others looked for needles, buttons, pencils, and even potatoes to be thrown into the crowd.
The adults were given dirty two-handed caresses that left few clean faces among the front row spectators huddled along the track.
The festival is a time of celebration and attracts thousands of tourists to the town in the Vigezzo Valley near the Swiss border. But neither the sweepers nor the local residents have forgotten the past horrors of a dirty and dangerous trade that depended on child exploitation. Memories of poverty and humiliation weigh on those old enough to remember.
“When the event started in the 1980s, few locals attended because they were ashamed,” said Claudio Cottini, the mayor of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The city’s identity has long been linked to commerce. The local chimney sweep museum shows a map from the 16th century on which the Vigezzo valley is referred to as the “Camifeger valley”, Swiss-German for the “valley of the chimney sweeps”.
At that time and for centuries afterwards, families in the area were so poor that many sent their sons to work as chimney sweeps when they were 6 or 7 years old. It was one mouth less to feed.
The children who have been trained to be “Padroni” or master sweeps and word of mouth about their lives tell sobering stories of abuse and misery.
“That is the origin of the term” lighting a fire under a person’s bum “: If the children did not work fast enough, the masters would say,” Hurry up or I will make a fire in the grate, “said Diane Pilger from Long Island, NY, former President of the National Chimney Sweep Guild in the US She attended this year’s festival with her husband John and daughter Krista.
Purposely malnourished to keep them lean, the young sweepers were forced to take narrow prints, scratching elbows and knees while scrubbing smoldering soot from the sides of a chimney. They traveled to distant lands for insignificant pay. Beatings were the order of the day.
“They have been despised, humiliated and abused, but they have made tremendous sacrifices so that they could send money home to help their families,” said Anita Hofer, vice president of Italy’s National Chimney Sweep Association and organizer of the festival.
The fate of the chimney sweeps, Ms Hofer said, was not so different from that of the thousands of African migrants who have faced a dangerous Mediterranean crossing in recent years to lead a better life in Europe.
“Moving to another country to escape poverty is one of the hardest things to do,” she said, adding that many Italians, whose history is full of emigrants, have lost sight of it. “We should be more understanding because our ancestors had similar experiences.”
Every year visiting sweepers make a pilgrimage together to the nearby town of Malesco to see the statue of Faustino Cappini, a 12-year-old sweeper who was electrocuted in 1929 when he stuck his hand out of a chimney and accidentally touched an electrician’s wire. It was common for children to signal to their masters that they had cleaned the fireplace at the very top.
Such tragedies are largely a thing of the past today. Technology, modern chimneys, and strict safety and certification rules have made cleaning a much less dangerous task. And chimney sweeps can still find work.
“We have 2.6 million saunas in Finland,” said Juha Tuomi, a Finn who has been sweeping for 46 years, “and many of them burn wood.”
These changes have helped locals grapple with the uglier aspects of their history and explain how a trade tied to Dickens’ hardship stories is now the inspiration for a happy festival.
“Over time it has become something to be proud of,” said Mayor Cottini. “Now there is a realization that this land gave our ancestors a deal, and we pay homage to that.”
The American contingent of the festival numbered 38, one of the largest groups, though a far cry from the 420 German fighters who took part in the parade, with a samba band.
All the sweeps wore their smartest, neatest, mostly black best, even though the September sun provided summer temperatures.
The Swiss decorated their necks with bright red scarves. The Japanese wore elegant kimono-style jackets, while the Scots wore kilts. Contrary to the fashion trend, the Dutch were dressed in white, a throwback to the time when they were cleaning chimneys for their royal houses. Cylinders were de rigueur.
“This is really where it all started,” said Rosanna Ramoni, a local resident who is the MC of the parade. “This is the place of the heart, of its roots.”
While the parade gives the local economy a boost, the area is far more affluent than it was when it sent chimney sweeps out into the world.
At other times of the year, tourists flock to admire the frescoed exteriors and commercial art galleries of Santa Maria Maggiore, taking advantage of the Vigezzo Valley’s reputation as the “Valley of Painters”. Wealth has also come through Switzerland, where many locals commute and earn considerably higher wages than in Italy.
When the parade ended, the fraternization defeated national identities and the Scots marched with the Russians. The Japanese were bombarded with requests for photos. and a local sweeper, Livio Milani, scurried across the roof of the old town hall to wave an Italian flag. It was a happy moment.
“This is the picture you need to take home,” said Ms. Ramoni as the sweepers and onlookers cheered.
