Sedia gestatoria Sedia gestatoria The gestatorial chair ("sedia gestatoria" in Italian, lit. "chair for carrying") was a ceremonial throne on which Popes were carried on shoulders until 1978, and later replaced outdoors in part with the Popemobile. It consists of a richly adorned, silk-covered armchair, fastened on a "suppedaneum", on each side of which are two gilded rings; through these rings pass the long rods with which twelve footmen ("palafrenieri"), in red uniforms, carry the throne on their shoulders. On prior occasions, as in the case of Pope Stephen III, popes were carried on the shoulders of men. The "sedia gestatoria" is
The House of Discarded Dreams strength and confidence in herself, which she has always been searching for. Vimbai is attempting to discover who she is but also struggles with the notion of being stuck between cultures, having strictly raised African parents, and Vimbai being born American, but raised with the two cultures as her influence in life. Select aspects of the Zimbabwean culture, such as the Shona language and religion, show up in "The House of Discarded Dreams". Sedia also employs on the Zimbabwean folkloric character called the "wazimamoto", a fire-truck driving vampiric character that is traditionally seen as stealing the "cultural blood" of the