Feast of li Schietti

The Feast of li frank, takes place on Easter Sunday, and consists of the raising in the palm of one hand, of a melangolo, orange airu (bitter orange), a tree chosen both for its resistance and for its thaumaturgical and medical properties, weighing about 50 kilos, as proof of the physical prowess of its bearers. The winner will be the one who has held the shaft up for the longest possible time. Participants wear the typical Sicilian costume consisting of black velvet trousers and vest, white shirt, red scarf, red pompoms that act as a tie and a red cap.

In the days preceding the party, the outspoken young people, who are part of the Dubbitazione committee, organizer of the event, reach the citrus groves surrounding the town to choose the tree to be sacrificed for the occasion, which must be leafy and balanced with a straight trunk. . The actual ritual begins at dawn on Holy Saturday with a complex ritual that foresees the sacrifice of the lamb in the wood as the first phase; the frank, go to one werewolf, in the Zucco district, where they brutally kill the animal: the sheep is slaughtered and instantly dies of bleeding, skinned and hung like a trophy. The execution is consumed in short moments with concise and solemn gestures that still reveal, in its creators, the ritual character of a test of virility. The cooking of the meat on the grill and the resulting food orgy are decisive actions for the success of the ritual. Subsequently we proceed with the cutting of the chosen tree, the operation is carried out with special tools by the local artisans who actually kill the tree and then resuscitate it with the raising. After the cut begins the ritual of handful, the collective meal, accompanied by large drinks of wine and consumption of typical products including sardines roasted on the grill, a symbol together with the meat and wine of the two cultures of Terrasini, the peasant and the marinara, which reveals the connection of the festival with the ancient pagan agrarian rites propitiatory of a year of abundance and happiness.

At the end of this phase, the cut tree is transported to the village on a Sicilian cart, 'u carrettu ra party, by the shipwright, the carpenter, and kept in a warehouse where it will be transformed into a ceremonial artifact. The most demanding phase is that of the preparation of the base, which once pruned and thinned, is wedged into a sort of oar to make the effort of lifting and maintaining balance easier for the bearers. The whole trunk, deprived of the external bark, is covered with colored fabrics and the foliage enriched with other leaves and surrounded by tricolor ribbons, red handkerchiefs, bows and small giummi of woven wool threads, ciancianeddi (horse rattles) e aineddi (zoomorphic forms of cheese paste) or simple caciotte.

At one time the members of the Dubbitazione slept in the warehouse to protect the tree from any vandalism. At dawn on Easter Sunday, the firing of firecrackers awakens the town reminding us that it is the big day. The feast opens with the blessing of the tree performed by the priest of the Cathedral after the celebration of the first Mass in the public square. Thus begins the procession through the streets of the town, accompanied by the musical band, from time to time the outspoken stop in front of the houses, proving their skills. The most important rise is the one that takes place under the balcony of the Zita, the betrothed or the unofficial fiancée, in such a way as to declare their love in front of the family and the entire community, if Zita agrees he detaches a twig from the tree and so the promise of marriage is signed. Many marriages, it is said among the elderly of the town, did not take place due to the inability of the frank to raise the tree. The gesture of lifting requires techniques and skills handed down orally for generations of arbulara. The tree must be held from below with the help of a helper who places the trunk in the center of the palm of the hand. Then with a slight jerk forward, the candidate pushes himself to his feet by extending the pole upwards, parallel to the head facing upwards towards the hair, to maintain balance as much as possible. Over the years, innovations have been introduced such as the chronometric race to raise the tree, in which the married (married) and the children competing separately with a small tree proportionate to their strength, without however affecting the traditional aspects of the rite. This competition takes place on Sunday afternoon in front of the church of the Matrice in the presence of a jury. At the end there will be the award ceremony accompanied by the music of the band.