Dance of the Shepherds in Balestrate
The most ancient tradition of Balestrate, closely linked to the Carnival, is the Ballo dei Pastori or Contradanza Mascherata.
The Ballo dei Pastori is a Sicilian contradanza that comes to life every year during the Balestrate Carnival .
It is a dance with very specific patterns: the number of participants, all males, varies between 16 – 20 – 24 elements, as it is linked to some contradanza figures that are performed in quartets . There are 10 figures in which one, the so-called grascé, serves to bind the others and is done every time one passes from one figure to another. The musical rhythm is very similar to the tarantella. The couples are made up of the dame and the chevalier and all wear feminine clothes: long, wide and multicolored skirt worn over knee-length lace knickers, white stockings, elegant lace-trimmed blouse, white gloves, a woman's hat from which part a veil. Tied to one wrist a purse or bag containing sweets to offer to the spectators and on one or both legs a leather strap with about twenty bells. What distinguishes the lady from the chevalier is the fact that the former wears sheep fur on her shoulders and a wide satin ribbon around her waist while the chevalier wore the same fur over her shoulder and two wide satin ribbons intersected on the chest and shoulders and they were tied to the ribbon of the belt.
According to tradition, the first of the dances was performed in front of the house of the person in charge of the contradanza, the second in front of the police station with an uncovered face so that the commander, who had the list of participants, recognized them. Then the group of dancers went around the town to dance in front of the houses of the nobles who, in exchange, offered everyone a glass of wine.
The origin of this dance is linked to a legend handed down orally which tells that , in ancient times, the carnival was celebrated only on Sundays and Mondays and a group of shepherds never managed to participate in the celebrations because the owner of the flock never let them free. It happens one year that they managed to free themselves on Tuesday, but once they arrived in the village, they knew that the party had now passed. They then decided to celebrate the carnival in their own way by wearing women's clothes and going wild in contradances throughout the town. Since then in Balestrate Carnival Tuesday has been known as lu jornu di lu picuraru, i.e. shepherd's day.
