Feast of St. Paul the Apostle
Street View (if present)
Description
Feast of St. Paul the Apostle - Palazzolo Acreide
The traditional and ancient procession dedicated to the apostle on June 29 at XNUMX in Palazzolo Acreide represents one of the most spectacular and suggestive rituals in the context of the celebrations in devotion of St. Paul in the territory of the Province of Syracuse.
At dawn, preparations begin for the thirteen o'clock release. The very fragrant lavender, which in Palazzolo is called "spica ri San Paulu", which is offered in large quantities to the saint and blessed, is distributed in small bunches to the faithful. Around nine o'clock "u carrettu ro pani" moves, which, adorned with ears, pulled by hand through the streets of the town, collects the traditional "cuddure", large votive loaves decorated with one or more relief snakes, which are then blessed sold by auction in the pronaos of the church. A procession of knights accompanies the bread collection through the main streets of the town. The blessing of the animals takes place in the churchyard of the basilica of S. Paolo. But the most important moment of the party, awaited and prepared for a whole year is the release of the thirteen "a sciuta".
From the early hours of the morning the space in front of the church and the neighboring streets are filled with a river of supporters. Devotees are prepared for the highly anticipated event, each ready to fulfill their role.
The bearers tremble while waiting to perform their gesture, as a sign of "right to place" they tie the handkerchief (which they will wear around their neck during the march), to the long rods of the vare called "baiarde", both of the simulacrum and of the reliquary. They took the vow of the "bare shoulder" like some of their women, who instead take the barefoot procession, or the vow of the "traveliu scausu".
Shortly before 13pm, at the end of the mass, most of the devotees leave the church to look for a place outside, to attend the imminent show of the patron saint's "sciuta".
The bearers take the ancient statue of St. Paul from the altar and place it above the vara. The church is immersed in an atmosphere full of tension and meaning: while the men lift the sacred load on their shoulders, two devotees, dressed in shirts, white trousers and a red neckerchief, climbed on the front of the vara.
At the exit of the vara, as in a collective contagion under a very hot sun, the shouts of incitement spread throughout the neighborhood, two angels in papier-mâché are made to descend by sliding on two metal wires tied between the bell tower of the temple and the building opposite. The success of this launch is full of superstitious significance, in fact if the flow is not fluid and is interrupted it would be interpreted as a bad omen for the current year.
During the very characteristic path is the ritual of the blessing of naked children, such as the ritual of offerings by devotees of money or valuables that will be arranged with pins on red ribbons specially fixed on the vara by the two men mentioned above.
At the exit of the reliquary, between the deafening chimes and the first shot of the fireworks, the bearers carry the sacred load among the crowd to stop waiting until just beyond the square. It is 13 o'clock, the "sciuta" is done, the simulacrum of San Paolo comes out, finally appears to its devotees, the square is all in constant acclamation, the fireworks display begins consisting of majestic and powerful fireworks, launches of streamers and colored leaflets called "nzareddi" that rain and literally overwhelm the public and so the procession begins, the human snake proceeds slowly through the streets of the ancient district of Palazzolo.
The reliquary and the simulacrum will make a brief stop during the procession to enter as a sign of devotion in the church of the Annunziata, then the procession will continue until about 14,30 pm, time of return to the church dedicated to the patron, here the reliquary and simulacrum will be placed amid the applause and general acclamation of the devotees.
In the evening, at dusk, a second procession takes place. In the late evening at the end of the procession, "u fuocu" is shot, an extraordinary fireworks display. After the placid pinwheels with their colors and hisses, with the magic with which they suddenly know how to manifest themselves in new shapes and colors, a great fireworks display begins in all directions, ephemeral arabesques of fire are created that illuminate in their succession of colors the baroque scrolls of the church, the square, the surrounding buildings.
On the day of the eighth and one last time for the current year, the procession through the streets of the town will take place again, until returning to the church where the statue will be placed inside the niche to remain there until the next feast of June. (Text source: REI Sheet - Sicily Region)
Photo: web
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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
N. Prog. 84
Well: Feast of St. Paul the Apostle
Book: REI - Book of celebrations
Approval date: 13-04-2007
Category: Patronal feast
Province: Syracuse
Municipality: Palazzolo Acreide
Local denomination: In Sciuta
Chronological News
The cult of San Paolo in Palazzolo Acreide (SR) is very ancient, probably several centuries earlier than the same election of the saint as patron in 1688, in place of the Madonna di Odigitria, venerated in the church of San Sebastiano. The documents in the archive of the church of S. Paolo attest to the feast of the saint as early as 1599. The feast was then organized by the Confraternita dei Disciplinati, which organized sacred representations in the churchyard and assigned the place to be occupied by the other brotherhoods during the procession .
Recurrence: Annual
Date: January 25 - June 29
opportunity
The feast of San Paolo opens the summer and is the most impressive and pompous of the summer feasts of Palazzolo Acreide as it celebrates the town's patron saint; the participation of the faithful is in fact, compared to the others, at least tripled. Many tourists, from more or less nearby centers, move to Palazzolo to attend the party. But above all, immigrants crowd the streets; the families who left this land in search of work between the 60s and 70s regularly return during this period to take part in the patron saint's day. As mentioned, the festival falls at the beginning of summer and coincides with the period of harvesting and harvesting of wheat, when the farmer experiences his crisis of dismay to its full extent. The reaper is threatened by the danger always lurking by the bite of poisonous insects, and he senses in a dramatic way the sense of his existential precariousness. The presence in the past of the ceruli, the offerings of animals dragged and forced to their knees at the main altar, the rare and surviving ex-votos of bread on which the image of reptiles is found, are evidence of an ideology widespread in all cereal civilization of the Mediterranean world.
Function: Patronal feast, propitiatory falls in fact in the period of the wheat harvest.
Actors: There are no brotherhoods of porters, but only the committee for the organization of the celebrations. The porters are unorganized citizens who propose to receive a grace.
The number of bearers varies for the two vare in the number of 80 - 100 for the statue and about 50 for the reliquary. The bearers, in the minimum number of about eighty, lift the statue by the rods and after a short wait inside the church, proceed with the sacred load slowly exiting the church building. The Simulacrum stops for the start of the fireworks display, after a few minutes it starts again in a slow procession through the streets of the city.
Participants: Municipal authorities, fraternity of porters, devotees, local community, tourists Municipal authorities, fraternity, porters, marching band, devotees, local community, tourists.
Description
The traditional and ancient procession dedicated to the apostle on June 29 at XNUMX in Palazzolo Acreide represents one of the most spectacular and suggestive rituals in the context of the celebrations in devotion of St. Paul in the territory of the Province of Syracuse.
At dawn, preparations begin for the thirteen o'clock release. The very fragrant lavender, which in Palazzolo is called "spica ri San Paulu", which is offered in large quantities to the saint and blessed, is distributed in small bunches to the faithful. Around nine o'clock "u carrettu ro pani" moves, which, adorned with ears, pulled by hand through the streets of the town, collects the traditional "cuddure", large votive loaves decorated with one or more relief snakes, which are then blessed sold by auction in the pronaos of the church. A procession of knights accompanies the bread collection through the main streets of the town. The blessing of the animals takes place in the churchyard of the basilica of S. Paolo. But the most important moment of the party, awaited and prepared for a whole year is the release of the thirteen "a sciuta".
From the early hours of the morning the space in front of the church and the neighboring streets are filled with a river of supporters. Devotees are prepared for the highly anticipated event, each ready to fulfill their role.
The bearers tremble while waiting to perform their gesture, as a sign of "right to place" they tie the handkerchief (which they will wear around their neck during the march), to the long rods of the vare called "baiarde", both of the simulacrum and of the reliquary. They took the vow of the "bare shoulder" like some of their women, who instead take the barefoot procession, or the vow of the "traveliu scausu".
Shortly before 13pm, at the end of the mass, most of the devotees leave the church to look for a place outside, to attend the imminent show of the patron saint's "sciuta".
The bearers take the ancient statue of St. Paul from the altar and place it above the vara. The church is immersed in an atmosphere full of tension and meaning: while the men lift the sacred load on their shoulders, two devotees, dressed in shirts, white trousers and a red neckerchief, climbed on the front of the vara.
At the exit of the vara, as in a collective contagion under a very hot sun, the shouts of incitement spread throughout the neighborhood, two angels in papier-mâché are made to descend by sliding on two metal wires tied between the bell tower of the temple and the building opposite. The success of this launch is full of superstitious significance, in fact if the flow is not fluid and is interrupted it would be interpreted as a bad omen for the current year.
During the very characteristic path is the ritual of the blessing of naked children, such as the ritual of offerings by devotees of money or valuables that will be arranged with pins on red ribbons specially fixed on the vara by the two men mentioned above.
At the exit of the reliquary, between the deafening chimes and the first shot of the fireworks, the bearers carry the sacred load among the crowd to stop waiting until just beyond the square. It is 13 o'clock, the "sciuta" is done, the simulacrum of San Paolo comes out, finally appears to its devotees, the square is all in constant acclamation, the fireworks display begins consisting of majestic and powerful fireworks, launches of streamers and colored leaflets called "nzareddi" that rain and literally overwhelm the public and so the procession begins, the human snake proceeds slowly through the streets of the ancient district of Palazzolo.
The reliquary and the simulacrum will make a brief stop during the procession to enter as a sign of devotion in the church of the Annunziata, then the procession will continue until about 14,30 pm, time of return to the church dedicated to the patron, here the reliquary and simulacrum will be placed amid the applause and general acclamation of the devotees.
In the evening, at dusk, a second procession takes place. In the late evening at the end of the procession, "u fuocu" is shot, an extraordinary fireworks display. After the placid pinwheels with their colors and hisses, with the magic with which they suddenly know how to manifest themselves in new shapes and colors, a great fireworks display begins in all directions, ephemeral arabesques of fire are created that illuminate in their succession of colors the baroque scrolls of the church, the square, the surrounding buildings.
On the day of the eighth and one last time for the current year, the procession through the streets of the town will take place again, until the return to the church where the statue will be placed inside the niche to remain there until the next feast of June.
Catalog Sheet
REFERENCES
Burgaretta, Sebastian. 2005. Travel notes - Folklore, history and religiosity in Sicily, Syracuse: Emanuele Romeo.
Grimaldi, Tonino. 1994. St. Paul, Patron of Palazzolo Acreide. Historical information on the church, Confraternity and feast of St. Paul, Syracuse: Zangara Stampa.
Monteforte, Giampaolo Vincenzo. 1995. The feast of San Paolo in Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa: Iblea Graphics.
Bird, Antoninus. 2000. The Summer of the Patron Saints, the Feast of San Paolo in Palazzolo Acreide, Syracuse: Saturnia Graphic Printing.
Footnotes
From numerous ancient documents it is attested that the Patroness of Palazzolo Acreide was the Madonna Odigidria until 1689, in fact in this period the people of the town, following a vote, raised St. Paul to the patron saint. This choice produced a discontent in the brotherhood of San Sebastiano, a feeling of rivalry that curiously still survives today among the "Sanbastianesi" who for this reason do not take part in the celebrations.
The statue dedicated to the saint dates back to around 1507, made with the technique of the time, that is, in wood and rags soaked in plaster. This has undergone several interventions over time: remaking of the gilding in 1600, a first restoration around 1693, more interventions on the gilding in 1902, replacement of the original head (arbitrarily) in 1999, relocation of the original garment with an accurate restoration and scientific in 2000.
The reliquary, which dates back to around 1600, is a wooden oval covered with a silver foil on the front, with the depiction of St. Paul and floral decorations on the sides. Inside there are two relics: one donated in 1700, or a fragment of the Saint's molar, the other a bone fragment certified by Bolle Papali, donated by Cardinal Carpino, a native of Palazzolo in 1990.
An ancient legend, still handed down in the Palazzolo area, linked to the figure of St. Paul, believes that those born in the night between 24 and 25 January (called Paolo and Petra if female), have particular powers, namely those of "Ciaraulo" . Supernatural powers and to be exercised in the name of the Apostle deriving from the same experience narrated in the Acts of the life of the Saint.
In particular, from the episode that took place in Malta, the place where Saint Paul was attacked and bitten by a viper while he was putting wood on the fire, which literally "stuck to his finger" without causing him any harm.
Still according to the Acts, during the three months of his stay in Malta, Paul made numerous and miraculous healings through the use of his hands alone. From these events derives the belief already documented in 1400, that those born on the night of St. Paul have supernatural virtues, that is, they are able to enchant snakes, to heal people bitten by reptiles and insects of various kinds and that they have under the tongue a spider-shaped muscle (a small tangle of pink veins).
The useful rite to appease the effects of the bite takes place both by touching the infected part and at the same time reciting prayers to invoke the Apostle, and by rubbing the saliva of the "ciaraulo" with the fingers on the wounded part.
In the past the "ciarauli" took part in the procession accompanying the launch of St. Paul holding a container full of black snakes and harmless snakes, as well as on the morning of June 29, the day of the festival, a procession of children holding bouquets of ears intertwined with red ribbons, they paraded through the city streets with the massari on horseback.
Another rite performed up to the 50s consisted in having hundreds of heads of cattle paraded with red ribbons and with the image of the Apostle on the forehead. The animals were even introduced into the church and made to kneel in front of the main altar in front of the statue of the patron.
Still another custom, abandoned in the second half of the nineteenth century, was that which saw the devotees enter the temple, bend down and swipe their tongues on the floor along the entire distance from the door to the main altar.
Of all these rites, a legacy of paganism, the collection of breads called "codduri" survives (donuts prepared by numerous families, bearing the figure of a snake in relief), collected from the early morning of the 29th on a "u carruzzuni" cart and sold auctioned in front of the church in order to finance the festival.
The statue dedicated to the saint dates back to around 1507, made with the technique of the time, that is, in wood and rags soaked in plaster. This has undergone several interventions over time: remaking of the gilding in 1600, a first restoration around 1693, more interventions on the gilding in 1902, replacement of the original head (arbitrarily) in 1999, relocation of the original garment with an accurate restoration and scientific in 2000.
The reliquary, which dates back to around 1600, is a wooden oval covered with a silver foil on the front, with the depiction of St. Paul and floral decorations on the sides. Inside there are two relics: one donated in 1700, or a fragment of the Saint's molar, the other a bone fragment certified by Bolle Papali, donated by Cardinal Carpino, a native of Palazzolo in 1990.
An ancient legend, still handed down in the Palazzolo area, linked to the figure of St. Paul, believes that those born in the night between 24 and 25 January (called Paolo and Petra if female), have particular powers, namely those of "Ciaraulo" . Supernatural powers and to be exercised in the name of the Apostle deriving from the same experience narrated in the Acts of the life of the Saint.
In particular, from the episode that took place in Malta, the place where Saint Paul was attacked and bitten by a viper while he was putting wood on the fire, which literally "stuck to his finger" without causing him any harm.
Still according to the Acts, during the three months of his stay in Malta, Paul made numerous and miraculous healings through the use of his hands alone. From these events derives the belief already documented in 1400, that those born on the night of St. Paul have supernatural virtues, that is, they are able to enchant snakes, to heal people bitten by reptiles and insects of various kinds and that they have under the tongue a spider-shaped muscle (a small tangle of pink veins).
The useful rite to appease the effects of the bite takes place both by touching the infected part and at the same time reciting prayers to invoke the Apostle, and by rubbing the saliva of the "ciaraulo" with the fingers on the wounded part.
In the past the "ciarauli" took part in the procession accompanying the launch of St. Paul holding a container full of black snakes and harmless snakes, as well as on the morning of June 29, the day of the festival, a procession of children holding bouquets of ears intertwined with red ribbons, they paraded through the city streets with the massari on horseback.
Another rite performed up to the 50s consisted in having hundreds of heads of cattle paraded with red ribbons and with the image of the Apostle on the forehead. The animals were even introduced into the church and made to kneel in front of the main altar in front of the statue of the patron.
Still another custom, abandoned in the second half of the nineteenth century, was that which saw the devotees enter the temple, bend down and swipe their tongues on the floor along the entire distance from the door to the main altar.
Of all these rites, a legacy of paganism, the collection of breads called "codduri" survives (donuts prepared by numerous families, bearing the figure of a snake in relief), collected from the early morning of the 29th on a "u carruzzuni" cart and sold auctioned in front of the church in order to finance the festival.
Card Author: Salvatore Gambacurta
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