The magic of Christmas in Sicily: traditions and events

To symbolize the arrival of the holidays there is also the flourishing of Cribs, of different shapes, types and materials like wood, their, silver, ivory and coral that we find in many places. Ancient tradition dating back to the sixteenth century, the latter are iconographic representation par excellence of Christmas. Whole countries become live nativity, where the inhabitants of the sound of bagpipes and the singing of novena, often commissioned by private clients and executed in their homes in the vicinity of the crib, They dress in old clothes and staged ancient crafts. The oldest of these is to Custonaci, in the province of Trapani, inside the cave Mangiapane. A Longi, in the province of Messina, Nativity scenes are accompanied by Christmas carols or dialect sounds of ancient instruments like the bagpipes in the key used to Monreale (in the province of Palermo), or that a couple played in Licata (in the province of Agrigento). The ancient art of these musicians is handed down with the event The Bagpipe Golden, that takes place in Erice (in the province of Trapani), event involving bagpipers who come from all over Italy. Yet, a Caltagirone cribs are made before clay, then ceramic, so beautiful to do this folk art, over the centuries, a craft. anciently Sntri Hey Pasturari modeled and colored the figures of the Nativity, led their “Bambinelli”, exploiting the duttilissima wax and Scaffarate, namely the representation of the Nativity, placed on a glass board, exposed during the Christmas period and jealously preserved during the rest of the year. Precious also those that Known which are located in the Capuchin Crypt and the Santa Maria del Monte Scala, to Ispica (in the province of Ragusa), dating from the eighteenth century and visible in the Church of the Annunciation; Other examples of Sicilian nativity are located in the baroque town of Scicli, (in the province of Ragusa) where in the Church of San Bartolomeo, we have one of the oldest but strongly damaged by an earthquake, or province Trapani where especially fine coral are made. A Catania It exists a crib whose characters are made with a particular pad and covered with resinous paint. It is that of eighteenth-century owned by the Baron Scammacca. Another example evocative of the Nativity is represented by the eighteenth century crib, present at Acireale (in the province of Catania) It consists of a thirty life-size characters which is located inside a lava cave.

The festivities ended with the celebration of Epiphany, the 6 January, during which in some villages of Sicily as Piana degli Albanesi, Mezzojuso, Contessa Entellina e Palazzo Adriano, remember the baptism of Jesus , tradition handed down from the ancient Albanian communities. In church or in the square is placed a tub filled with water, during the function, the celebrant immerses three times a cross in these tanks and the third time the dove, that religious tradition is the Holy Spirit, It is freed and can carry out the flight. A Bordonaro, not far from Messina, on this day in the main square of the city is home to the dug, a Christmas fir formed by a pole of nine meters, coated rods, foliage and citrus, donuts and cotton, on top of which there is a two-meter high cross, also decorated with fruit, tapes, buns and loaves of bread. A Mussomeli, finally, to the delight of children, three locals mimic the arrival of the three kings.