Pantomime: u Pisci a Mari

    Property included in the Register of Intangible Heritage of Sicily (REIS)

As part of the celebrations of the patron saint John the Baptist, the pantomime is held on the stretch of water that bathes Acitrezza, a hamlet of Aci Castello U piss in mmari (Fish in the sea). The traditional ritual begins in the afternoon, when the sailors bobbing, accompanied by the band, take the Rais from his home. Once at the port, the Rais is placed on a rather large rock from where he will direct the pantomime of fishing. On a small, richly adorned boat, four sailors frolic across the length and breadth of the fish, personified by a skilled swimmer, named each year by the local community. The pantomime tells the troubled moment of tuna fishing, in which the large animal caught at first, manages with sudden shots to escape the crew three times, definitively sinking into the sea. The singing and the gestures of joy of the Rais and the crew are followed by moments of great despair, in which the Rais throws himself into the sea and in anger the sailors begin to quarrel among themselves, causing the boat to capsize. The rite ends with a tour through the streets of the country of the "unfortunate", the sailors, who sadly receive as a gift from the crowd wine and cash offerings. (Text source: REU Sheet - Sicily Region)

---------------- 

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