While the U.S. abuses snakes, Italy celebrates them

Recently, the newsworthy public displays of reptiles in the US have been the disgusting animal abuse events called Rattlesnake Roundups. In Italy, things are different. There, in the tiny town of Cocullo in the Province of L'Aquila of Italy, the first of May is the Festa dei Serpari, or Snake Festival. From Wikipedia:

Cocullo is known for his singular patron saint's holiday, named Festa dei Serpari, in which the patron saint's statue (Domenico di Sora) is transported in procession covered with lot of snakes (mainly four-lined, aesculapian, grass and green whip snakes). The reptiles themselves are transported in procession by local serpari[4], a sort of "snake breeders", and released in the surrounding woods at the end of the holiday[5][6]. The festival, set every first May since 2012 (in the past it took place every first thursday in May), is a receptive event for Italian and foreigner tourists. In 2009 it was cancelled due to some structural damages occurred into the village after the L'Aquila earthquake [7]. This tradition, present also in coat of arms symbolism[8], substituted the ancient Roman mythologic ritual of Angitia, a snake goddess worshipped by the Marsi.

A few amazing slideshows are out there. Check out the first one from the UPI and the second one at Demotix.com. The inset photo was taken from Demotix.com.