Festa per la Nascita della Reppublica
| Festa per la Nascita della Reppublic Birth of the Republic Day | |
|---|---|
| Also called | il nostro Compleanno Our birthday |
| Observed by |  Etruria |
| Type | National |
| Significance | Founding of the Etrurian First Republic with the Proclamation of the Devotion of the Republic to Heaven on 20 July 1784 |
| Celebrations | Parades, fireworks, concerts, picnics. |
| Date | 20 July |
| Frequency | annual |
| First time | 20 July 1785 |
| Related to |
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Festa per la Nascita della Reppublica (Birth of the Republic Day) is the Etrurian National Day and Republic Day, which is celebrated on 20 July each year, with the main celebration taking place in Tyrennhus. The day commemorates the founding of the Etrurian First Republic during the early stages of the Etrurian Revolution - founded via the Proclamation of the Devotion of the Republic to Heaven. The day has commemorated every year since 1785 though in different forms.
The day's events take places the entirety of Etruria, primarily in the form of parades and public events in major cities and towns, as well as music and theatrical concerts. Family meals and open-air picnics among family and friends in the early evening is also popular though not state organised. The principal ceremony of the even, organised and held in Tyrennhus, the founding place and capital of the then Etrurian First Republic includes the laying of laurel wreaths as a tribute to the Etrurian Unknown Soldier and founders of the First Republic (interred here in 1961) at the Altare della Repubblica e del Popolo by the President of the Federation and a military parade along the Via Quinto Adriano. This is proceeded by another ceremony in Solaria known as the Parade of the Succession, in which individuals in ancient Solarian military and political attire take part and proclaim the modern Etrurian Republic inheritors of the national legacy.
The day also falls on the feast day of Saint Metellus the Legionaire, the patron saint of Etruria. This is celebrated by religious processions in the evening, commemorating Metellus' martyrdom in 366 AD. This has inevitably led to the two festivals becoming intertwined.
The Festa per la Nascita della Reppublica is the premier national symbol of Etruria.
History
The Etrurian Revolution began in Tyrennhus, the then-capital of the Grand Principality of Tyrennia (now the Republic of Palestrina, a constituent state of the Etrurian Federation) in 1783 with mass protests the monarchy. Grand Prince Alessandro III, was arrested and detained in December 1783 having been caught attempting to escape to the Grand Duchy of Peravia. The Popular Convention which was formed the same month to govern the Grand Principality voted overwhelmingly to put the Grand Prince on trial for crimes against the populace. Two days later the 20 January 1784, the Convention voted to proclaim the Tyrennian Republic, ending the principality.
However, the Tyrennian Republic would be short-lived, marred and undermined by intense factional power struggles within the convention it was forced to repeatedly delay the Grand Prince’s trial. Ultimately, his trial was forced-through by radicals on the Convention’s left who subjected the Grand Prince to a speedy show trial and on 10 July was executed for “crimes against the populace.” Eight days later, the Society of Servants of Sotirias and the Liberties, also known as La Pantheonisti staged La Purga, killing or detaining its political rivals and assuming total control over the Tyrennian Republic. On 20 July, the Society issued the Proclamation of the Devotion of the Republic to Heaven’s Will abolishing the Tyrennian Republic and supplanting it with the Etrurian Republic – ostensibly announcing their intentions to unify Etruria and end the various duchies, principalities and maritime republics under its theo-democratic system.
The date of 20 July was officially declared the “founding of the Republic of Heaven” by the Senate of the Republic on 24 July 1784, as part of wider efforts to bury the Tyrennian Republic as an aberration. A point that remains debated is whether the Society of Servants timed the Proclamation of the Republic’s Devotion to Heaven to coincide with the feast day of Saint Metellus the Legionnaire, the patron saint of Etruria. This coincidence or intention would result in the eventual conflation of the two days and infusing of religious ceremony into the official proceedings of the ‘Festa della Repubblica’.
On the 17 July 1785, the Senate of the Republic officially voted to declare the date a national holiday. The first ever recorded Festa per la Nascita della Reppublica took place three days later and took the form of a victory procession by the Army of the Trasimene, which had weeks earlier decimated a Dinaran-Peravian army at the Battle of Concordia Aurelia. The day also included public speeches by leading Pantheonisti and “feasts in market squares across the Republic.” The events in Tyrennhus also included a public oath taking by General Giorlamo lodare-Dio Schiave, in which he vowed to dedicate every victory and sacrifice to the “soul and spirit of the Republic that shall liberate all the Ecumene from the womb’s tyranny.” The night’s events to honour Saint Metellus were according to diarists of the time, “significantly altered to reflect the new world in which the Republic existed.” The mourning of Saint Metellus’ martyrdom also came to include mourning and respect being paid to the Republic’s war dead. This would continue as the norm for the celebrations and events throughout the Republic’s existence until 1810 and the restoration of monarchy over a united Etruria.
In wake of the Caltrini Restoration in 1810 and founding of the United Kingdom of Etruria, debates arose as to whether to maintain celebration of the 20 July. Conscious of the continued popularity and influence of the Society of Servants, King Caio Aurelio I decreed July 20 to be a celebration of the “fatherland and the people”, working to remove from the celebrations the republican and civil-religious customs. Throughout the Kingdom’s existence (1810-1888), the Festa della Patria as it was named, took form of military parades, a speech by the monarch to the Senate of Etruria, a fleet review and state-funded feasts in the squares of major towns and cities, often at great expense to the Crown.
The San Sepulchro Revolution of 1888 which overthrew the monarchy and established the Etrurian Second Republic, restored much of the original meaning and celebrations to 20 July. The Second Republic also restored much of the cross-over events between the Festa della Reppublica and Saint Metellus' feast day. The Second Republic would also provide celebrations across the country more federal funds and in 1893 passed a law moderating and formally establishing the itinerary and customs afforded to the festivities. It mandated the main event to take place in Tyrennhus out of respect to its status as the first capital of the Republic, rather holding them in the modern capital of Povelia. The Second Republic also introduced various events celebrating Etruria’s history, primarily the Solarian Republic and Renovato-era pre-unification states. The Minister for Culture, Giorlamo Giorgio Gaspari introduced a general outline for the festivities in Tyrennhus, including calls for respect and veneration of pre-First Republic Etruria, notably Carinthia and Novalia. The Gaspari notes as they were dubbed, would go on to constitute the modern-day event. The Second Republic maintained the Festa della Reppublica during the Great War though in a reduced fashion between 1926 and 1936, with the military parade swapped out for a procession of the war wounded and auxiliary services. The Legionary Reaction of 1938 and the fall of the Republic to the National Solarian Regime would lead to a transformation of the Festa per la Nascita della Repubblica into a national propaganda event.
From 1938 to 1945, the festival changed markedly into a highly propagandistic event. The role of Saint Metellus’ Feast Day in the evening proceedings was side-lined for torch-lit rallies and mass events often led by either Co-Leader of the Republic; Ettore Caviglia and Aldo Tassinnari. In 1940, the regime held the largest event marking the Festa della Reppublica to date, including a fleet review in Accadia, a parade involving 50,000 soldiers in Tyrennhus and a night-time torch-lit rally in Schiuntrave’s Solarian built Arena. The 1941 event also marked the first true inclusion of Solarian ruins and sites as part of the effort to celebrate Etruria’s Solarian Heritage. The onset of the Solarian War in 1943 would see the event vanish completely from the public calendar as the nation struggled in its war effort.
The collapse of the Greater Solarian Republic and institution of the Etrurian Third Republic would leave the Festa della Reppublica as a more muted affair compared to the previous decades. Owing primarily to the poor financial situation that would dog successive governments throughout its existence, a lack of general interest and a post-war malaise further degraded the population’s willingness to see extravagant costs afforded the event. From 1946 to 1960, the event would merely consist of the laying of a laurel wreath at the Altare della Reppublica e Popolo by the President of the Federation and a small military parade conducted by units of the military on a rotating basis. The event would often last no longer than 95 minutes in total and rarely attracted television or radio audiences beyond a million according to ARE records from the time.