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Snow in Matera, December 2007 This picture was taken by Michele, the person I am working with
in Matera. In the background you hear the
zampognari
playing. This is a sound heard on the streets of Italian towns for hundreds of years. In the past they were always shepherds who came to town at
Christmas to play on the streets. The zampognari I saw in Potenza many
years ago appeared to have emerged from the Dark Ages. Their feet and
legs, up to their knees were wrapped with dark colored green and maroon rags,
bound to their legs with leather lacing. The rest of their clothing was worn
and tattered. Michele told me that this tradition still exists, but the
practitioners are no longer only shepherds, but younger people as well.
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