Continuing the story of the Festival of Saint Antonio in Pietrapertosa Italy,

Saturday night, after the oxen dragged the colossal tree to the base of the church, groups of men worked to roll the tree up a slope near the church. Work stopped, and people celebrated late with fireworks, music, dance, drink, and food.

Sunday morning, we woke up to the sound of chainsaws and went to investigate. The tree, still on the slope, was being trimmed and bound together with a much smaller and very leafy tree.

Mid-morning Sunday, crowds began to gather, and for several hours they cheered on the villagers as they worked to pull the tree upright. The sketch at the top shows some of the hard work it took to erect the enormous tree. Teams of men were in the church tower, pulling on ropes. There were other teams on the ground, distributed so that they could pull and adjust as the tree went up. There were also many, many onlookers but I did not include many of them.

The next sketch shows two close-ups of men pulling from the four arches of the church bell tower. I did these on joining pages in my sketchbook and include them both because I like them both equally.

I loved how the end of the rope line had plenty of space for older men and little boys. This sketch is a close-up of a few of this group.

Finally the tree was up, and the crowd cheered. Then the street emptied, I think, for Sunday dinners and naps. This last sketch shows the tree standing alongside the church tower, with no soul in sight.