15TH AUGUST

Assumption of the Virgin Day, in Catholic Italy - always a day when everything was closed - a truly National Holiday, but also a time of street parties, especially in Tuscany, where, in Panzano they filled the main street with long tables and chairs and everyone came to dinner !  Much of the food was provided by the famous Butcher of Panzano - beloved and well-known throughout Italy.  His, is the only Butchery I've ever encountered, where cuts of meat were celebrated with chamber music  and where the owner was often to be seen giving a TV interview on the pavement outside.

Here in India, it is Independence Day - a celebration of India's freedom from Colonial Rule, which ended in 1947 - also a National Holiday, but the shops will be open.  The flag will be raised - the very pretty tricolour of saffron, white and green, made of homespun cloth, with a central spinning wheel of  24 spokes, representing, not only the hours of the day, but also the movement of time.  The unchanging central hub of the wheel,  represents eternity and truth (exactly the same symbolism as a Rose Window in a Gothic Cathedral).