A RELIGIOUS RAGING CONTEST.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1567, 25 September 1905, Page 3

A RELIGIOUS RAGING CONTEST.

Perhaps the most curious horse race in the world is that which takes place in Siena, Italy, at every Feast of the Assumption. It seems that appeals to the Virgin at. supreme crises in the city’s history were followed by miraculous victories, and the Virgin came to gain a complete ascendency over the minds of the Sienese in a civic and political, as well as in a religious sense. The horse race run to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption aroused all the patriotic and religious feelings of the people, and surviving all the other public games, is still held to-day with/unabated enthusiasm, and faithful adherence to its mediaeval character. This race in honor of the Virgin, is run around the cramped and irregularly shaped public square, the old i forum of Roman days, and the competitors represent the ten wards of the city. The competitors do not supply their own horses, but must accept such as are assigned to them by lot only four days before the race. Immediately before the race the horses are taken to the churches of their respective parishes,, where they are led to the altar, and receive the blessing of the priest and a sprinkling of holy water. The contest is not merely a race,

but is also a running fight between the jockeys, who are expected to assaij one another fiercely with their heavy riding whips—a practice which usually takes the form of a concerted attack upon a likely winner. After the race the horse and rider are taken by residents of the of the particular ward to church again, to render thanks to the Virgin, and to secure a second benediction. When the the prize has been sarely delivered into the keeping of the parish church, the men of the ward constitute themselves hosts to the town. There is free wine for all comers, and no restraint is set upon the general rejoicing. Everyone toasts all those who have in any way contributed to the triumph ; and the harrow streets, the brightly lighted cafes and homely wine-booths, resound with bravos and heaths until deep into the night. On the morrow the horse, decorated with stars and spangles, makes a triumphal progress through the city, and the hero of the hour is not above receiving on a plate a tribute levied on the City Fathers. —Press. It is, of course, inevitable that when a number of men are debating a matter on which some, at least, on each side of the House hold strongly opposed convictions, the rules of debate should occasionally be transgressed. Of recent years, unfornately, there have been increasing indications that such offences against good taste are committed deliberately, members, in order to wound opponents, frequently making use of words or phrases which they know they will have to withdraw. It is this sort of thing and the Ineessant and frequently vulgar interjections and interruptions, rather than the hasty word dropped in the heat of an harangue, which lower the dignity of Parliament and make it contemptible in the eyes of the country. So bad have Parliamentary manners become in Wellington that the Speaker was forced to protest thei other day, and we hope that if his warning is not heeded, he will not hesitate to use the wide powers with which he is endowed. If, as Mr Speaker Steward said, “ Parliament is an assemblage of gentlemen,” the country has the right to expeot that members will conduct themselves so that the claim will not be open to question.—Press. ...