Festa di San Martino Nocturne & 3 Songs

At my son's small Waldorf pre-school (or asilo steineriana, as it is called here) the Festa di San Martino is a nocturnal one and lanterns made by the students in class replace the clanging pots and pans of the usual daytime celebrations in Venice--an example of which you can see here:

http://veneziablog.blogspot.it/2011/11/what-racket-festa-di-san-martino.html

The use of lanterns is typical of German celebrations of the holiday, but the plan this year at my son's school was to incorporate a distinctly Venetian element into the procession with the use of boats. I was going to be one of a few parents who would row the students--who'd be singing the songs you see below and shining their lanterns--in three traditional wood boats (specifically mascarete) along the canals of Canareggio.

The weather, however, did not cooperate. There were high winds and rain throughout most of the day and, though both had diminished somewhat by the later afternoon, the weather as evening approached was still too wet and windy to make the prospect of a boat ride very appealing (or safe).

So I didn't end up with any photos of the boats as I'd hoped, and the large enclosed garden in which the kids walked and sang was so dark as to make picture-taking almost impossible--as you can see above.

But, well, I can offer you the songs below, so that any of you who may be in Venice for next year's Festa di San Martino can be fully prepared to join the singing--as, incidentally, my son almost never does.

Alas, aside from Lucio Battisti's "La canzone del sole", Sandro's favorite song to belt out is one he learned from a friend whose family has lived in the lagoon for nearly 1,000 years--about a grandfather with uncontrollable flatulence.

   

SAN MARTINO

Nella nebbia fitta fitta, ogni bimbo ha paura

Anche il cielo si oscura e la notte presto vien

Se mi trovo per la strada, io accendo il lumicino

Che il prode San Martino ha donato ogni bambino

San Martino, cavaliere, ti ringrazio per la luce

Che per strada mi conduce e mi illumina il cammin

Nell’ampio cielo le stelle brillan come fiammelle;

io, piccolo bambino quaggiù,

rivolgo gli occhi al ciel lassù.

IO PORTO LA MIA LANTERNA

Io porto la mia lanterna, la porto sempre con me

In cielo brillano le stelle e qui Lei arde per me

Col lumicin io vo’ in cammin, rabimmel rabammel rabum

Ad uno ad uno ce ne andiamo piano piano

Su bimbi a casa torniam, su bimbi a casa torniam.

LANTERNA

Lanterna che brilli nella notte scura

Dimmi dove andare, dimmi dove andar

Senza luce nel buio, non posso restar

Lanterna, lanterna.