Feast of the Assumption

Il Festino: how it is

  Social upheavals, wars, fashions, restrictive norms, desecrating events… nothing could affect the authenticity of the mid-August celebration: not even the bishop's ban - which intervened immediately after the Second World War - to carry the Saints in procession together with the Assumption.
  Faith in the supernatural and the sense of history, deeply rooted in the soul of the Novara people, go from father to son through the centuries and, overcoming any obstacle, keep alive a tradition with high religious meanings.
  The party begins on the evening of July 31 with the function of "A Madonna 'o so logu": the statue of the Assumption is solemnly carried in procession from its chapel to the place where it remains exposed during the month of August. Prayers, songs, intimate talks, requests for thanks… fill the fifteen days preceding the great procession. And the emotion is alive, when at 15 pm on August XNUMXth, the song of the Ave Maris Stella rises in the cathedral.
  The Assumption, facing upwards, with her arms outstretched as if she wanted to welcome everyone into her mother's heart, shines royally from the top of her vara among the more than one hundred and fifty candles that have just been lit. A shudder assaults the onlookers who fill the temple, when, shortly afterwards, the bearers, lift their knees from the ground, raise the heavy rattle to the cry of "EVIVA MARIA!" Many flock, magnetically attracted by the Assumption of Novara, to experience that sacred spectacle, hoping to gain a place among the crowds crammed into Piazza Duomo and Via Duomo in order to enjoy "a nisciuda da Madonna", a touching moment when the statue, radiant of light, appears at the top of the churchyard.
  In the night until after two o'clock, the simulacrum adorned with diamonds, bracelets and necklaces, with a band and a heart of gold, the head surrounded by a halo of stars and precious roses, in the center of a myriad of swaying flames, he is carried in triumph through the narrow streets of the town, among the "cheers" of men who are tired and sweaty from the effort they joyfully undergo and among a cheering crowd that places in the hands of the Madonna now a prayer, now a plea, now a joy , now a pain, now a hope.
  Particularly exciting moments, in addition to the raising of the Madonna and the exit of the vara from the church, are the Apotheosis in the central square and the gentle rocking of the vara in Via Duomo. But, indeed, the whole procession gives suggestion, emotions and great joy. It is an incomparable manifestation of faith expressed by people of all ages and conditions, all enraptured by the majestic splendor of the Virgin.
  After the prohibition of the forties, apart from the exception for 1951 (thanks to a special permit, given on the occasion of the closing of the Holy Year), the Saints never returned in procession. However, the prohibition did not cancel that essential value in the civilization of the Novara people nor did it extinguish the hope that is always alive in their hearts, rewarded, then, in the Great Jubilee of 2000, when the sensitivity and theological depth of the Archpriest Don Enrico Ferrara as well as the intelligence and paternal wisdom of Archbishop Mons. Giovanni Marra brought back the solemn Apotheosis of Mary in Paradise.
  Since then the Saints have limited their exit to 15 August, parading along via Duomo, at dusk, in the ancient, rigorous order of importance, to reach the main square where, after midnight, the arrival of the Assumption will be the solemn Apotheosis celebrated.
     The short but "triumphal journey" of the Saints between two wings of exultant crowd and their presence in the central square around the Madonna, restore the splendor of the origins to the "Festino", without the perception of any diminutio. This, because in the hearts of the people of Novara, Faith, History, Tradition and Culture live intact as they have been handed over over the centuries… from one generation to the next.
     Following the suggestion of Archbishop Marra, the solemn Apotheosis in the original version is celebrated every five years: the litanies of Loreto are sung and the lights extinguished, the flames of the candles, lit by the hundreds on the vaults, enliven the face of the Madonna and her features. of the Saints, while the darkness of the night is illuminated by the embroideries of the fires, a soft reflection of the celestial glory of Mary Queen of Angels and Saints.
     Incomparable spectacle that arouses in the viewer, believer or not, the unstoppable need to enjoy that joy that comes from immensity.
     This year the exaltation of the Augusta Queen of Heaven, with all around the Saints who pay homage to her, will be repeated, we hope with new enthusiasm but certainly with the usual exultation.
     Mid-August in Novara is enriched by the honors paid to S. Ugo Abate, co-patron of the city: the eighteenth-century golden fercolo that houses the relics of the Saint, as well as being part of the fifteen vaults surrounding that of the Assumption, is carried in procession on the 14th. , on 16 and 22 August. The procession of the 22nd with the participation of all the brotherhoods and with a great competition of people closes the Festino di Novara with a flourish, which, for charm, grandeur, style, and art remains one of the most evocative popular celebrations in the whole of Sicily.

                    Vincent Cartaregia

Text source: http://win.parrocchianovaradisicilia.it/il-festino-com-e.html

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Technical sheet prepared by: Region of Sicily - Department of cultural heritage and Sicilian identity - CRicd: Regional center for inventory, cataloging and documentation and Sicilian regional film library