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Luckiest Wedding in the World For hundreds of years it
has been a superstition that having a chimney sweep attend your wedding would
bring you good luck. Many stories of how the chimney sweep came to be
regarded as such a lucky character are around, the most popular being that
about two hundred years ago, a London Chimney Sweep saved the life of King
George 11. The Sweep had been the only person brave enough to step forward
when the King's coach and horse's bolted, the Chimney Sweeper pulled up the
horses and saved the monarch. The King made an announcement by Royal Decree
declaring that all Chimney Sweeps are bearers of good luck and must be
treated with respect. The folklore was established and to this day Chimney
Sweeps are still considered Lucky and are invited to attend Weddings to kiss
the Bride. A few years ago I was
asked as Public Relations manager and Secretary of the Northern Ireland
Association of Chimney Sweeps to gather up a contingent of our sweeps to
represent the Province at the International Chimney Sweeps Gathering in Santa
Maria Maggiore. Considering this to be a bit of a gimmick, curiosity took
hold and we got a few of our sweeps to travel to the heart of the Italian
Alps to partake. On arrival we knew our initial thoughts of this festival
were unfounded. Soon we were amidst hundreds of chimney sweeps with blackened
faces, traditional uniforms and tools hanging from belts and shoulders, from
various countries. We found out that the festival began in 1983 when 13
sweeps gathered to chat and stroll through the town during the first week of
September. |
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By 1993, sweeps from throughout Europe were visiting
Italy for, what had become by this time, ‘the festival’. As the first week in
September began every year the ‘gathering’ grew. In 1997 Anita Hofer, who is
now the Vice President of the National Association of Chimneysweeps,
organized the first sanctioned parade. In 1999 the National Association of
Chimney sweeps became an official organization registered with, and certified
by, the Italian government. During past years, more than 700 sweeps from more
than a dozen countries participated in the festival. In 2003 the first
American sweep attended the festival. In 2004 the more numerous American
contingent was joined by the first sweeps from England, Northern Ireland and
Scotland. The 2005 ‘gathering’ also included the first sweep from Wales and
this year, the 25th Jubilee saw the
first Canadian sweeps to join in the festivities. It was almost like a
brotherhood of tradesmen who had traveled to the region on the first weekend
of September. I decided that this would be a fantastic setting for marrying
my Fiancée Wendy Rice originally from Bangor, so planning the ‘Luckiest
Wedding in the World’ began. As PR Manager and Secretary of the NIACS, I have
been to countless conferences, seminars and trade shows around the world.
Wendy has joined me on a number of these trips, which has allowed us to build
up life long friendships with fellow sweeps |
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We knew we would want to have these people at our
wedding, along with our families, however we needed to figure out a way of
them being able to attend without the financial implications of travelling
long distances for the ceremony. It was only when we had attended the
Spazzacamino festival in Italy that the penny dropped and I realized that we
could get them all to the festival, which they would do willingly, and Wendy
and I could persuade the respective families to join us there for a holiday
come wedding also. We went to Milan last June to arrange the paperwork with
the British Consulate, and our tour guide Dino Reguzzoni and his wife Kathy,
http://www.belleviste-ossola.com/
who organise the trip we took to the festival arranged to meet us there as
interpreters. After jumping through a few hoops to appease the Italian
authorities, we were given the news that they had issued the papers to the
Mayor of Santa Maria Maggiore allowing him to officially marry us. We can’t
thank Dino and Kathy enough as they did a lot of the organising for us,
including the flowers, cake and meal after the ceremony. |
