marie antoinette the porcupine

I may have mentioned that this weekend was a pretty major holiday for Perugia but now that it's over and I found out a bit more than just "hey there's free cake!" I can tell you what I now know.
It was the patron saint of Perugia's holiday, and Perugia has 4 patron saints. The
one being celebrated on the 29th was Constantius. He was the first bishop of Perugia, Italy at age 30. He evangelized his people, cared for the poor, and lived a simple life that shamed the ruling classes. Imprisoned, tortured and martyred with many of his flock in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius. He was beheaded in 170. (thanks for the info Aunt Pat!)
Anyway, over the weekend while I was busy city hopping from Orvieto to Pisa, Perugia was bustling with an antique market, and tables set up all over town with various goods. Then yesterday was the big day where every bakery in town makes their version of the holiday's specialty cake, which is a round bread with fruits and nuts in it. So on the way to class (keep in mind, Monday's are my worst days ever with 5 classes straight through from 11am-5pm) I see this giant white tent with swarms of Perugians gathering around. Young and old Italians were out with their families and friends, because apparently everything is closed due to the holiday. Most food stores were open though, lucky for me since all I had was bread and nutella after the weekend. So anyway, under the tent were each of the bakery's entries of the cake, and everyone could go in, taste and take free pieces home, and then judge them. Too bad I had to run to class and could only get a good glimpse of the little kids with their giant balloons and old women with their fur coats and crazy heeled shoes.
A few of my friends went to the one church where the custom for the holiday is to take the sweet bread and lay it at the feet of the patron saint's statue. If you do this, he will find you a husband. I love all the little religious traditions!
Last night we went to see Marie Antoinette in the old opera house and I absolutely loved it. The costumes were gorgeous and the music was fantastic... it was pretty much a crazy rock video of her life. After the movie we went to my friend Meg's apartment to eat a chocolate porcupine that they had bought earlier in the day at one of the bakeries. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and I named it Marie Antoinette because we proceeded to chop it's head off and eat it. Apparently it cost 20euros but it was absolutely delicious so oh well.
how cute.
That's all I really had for you, just wanted to share in the cuteness of the porcupine. This week is pretty low key, my friends and I are all taking turns cooking for each other and hopefully we will be going to either Sienna, Spoleto, or Gubbio this weekend.
Hope all you Elon kids have a great start to the semester!
Miss you!