The Months of the Year by Rodì Milici
Rodì Milici's Months of the Year are configured as one of the most interesting and unique ceremonies in Sicily.
They fall within the typology of structured Carnivals, which provide for a prescriptive and mandatory form of representation.
The representation also refers to a script where the parts that each individual Mese, the King, the Poet and the Borghese, protagonists of the ceremonial, must interpret in compliance with a recitative-declamatory model very similar to that used by storytellers and operators.
The months of the year boast an ancient origin. According to tradition, in 1880 the poet Don Peppe Trifilò introduced the representation in the town, taking a similar ritual in use in the Catania area as a model.
The Months of the Year are configured as a "dramatic form of popular origin" aimed at exorcising the risks associated with the various monthly passages.
The twelve months, astride donkeys or horses caparisoned for the occasion, arrive in the square and take turns, addressing the King, boast the privileges that their month brings to the community and ask peremptorily and exclusive the crown, maximum expression of power. In the end, the task of recomposing the incurable conflict falls to the Poet, while the King invites the procession of the Months to dance. The final part of the script is recited by the so-called Borghese who is identifiable with the author of the verses, which exalts the figure of the King and not only the allegorical one, but also the historical one.
The event was recognized by the regional councilorship, it is registered in the book of Celebrations i and is performed every year on the Sunday and Tuesday of Carnival in Rodì Milici.
