A celebration called „ Santa Maria dal Ciüf“ means „Blessed Virgin Mary of the flowers“ and is very famous in one of the twelve villages of Val Badia. It takes place every year on August 15th in La Villa, as it’s an important event for the Italian inhabitants. The tradition’s background is that farmers pick flowers in their own fields and create wonderful baskets. These are then brought to church to display and afterwards the flowers are fed to the cows.
This year we enjoyed a spectacular parade of 180 participants. The objective is to show the traditional clothes and activities in the Dolomites. The participants are paraded by different horse drawn carriages and one of them featured the Maratona dles Dolomites, as 2016 was it’s 30 anniversary.
Last but not least, the traditional aspects werent missing. The bands of Alta Badia filled the streets as well as the “Schuhplatter”, a regional dancing group, performed. Visitors enjoyed a nice afternoon wrapped in a world full of cultural and traditional expressions of the Dolomites.
Loosely translated from this Ladin article: http://www.lausc.it/la-usc-on-tour/3581-l-iste-tl-alta-badia-injope-te-na-defilada
