Summer festival of San Giuseppe in Giarratana
The summer festival of San Giuseppe in Giarratana usually takes place every year on the second Sunday of September. The Universal Church remembers him with the solemnity of March 19, but the community of Giarratana dedicates another feast to him.
It was possible to reconstruct the origin of the summer feast of St. Joseph only through the stories of the local elders. According to these stories, in ancient times, in Giarratana there were Masonic lodges that had translated the traditional market fair of 21 September, in which the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate was celebrated, to the day before, the day of the anniversary of the breach of Porta Pia. The parish priest responded to this translation by still anticipating the fair to September 19 and since every 19th of the month a votive mass was celebrated in San Giuseppe, on the occasion of the fair the statue of the Patriarch was carried in procession. Since then, the summer procession became part of the traditional festivals of Giarratana while the traditional fair in memory of the consecration of the church of Sant’Antonio Abate has been lost over the years. In recent years, to reconcile this tradition with the feasts of neighboring countries, the feast of St. Joseph is celebrated on the second Sunday of September.
On the occasion of the summer feast of St. at the center of the traditional “Scinnuta” rite, that is the descent from the chapel of the main altar of the venerated simulacrum of the patriarch saint. On the Sunday of the festival, the two processions take place, the morning and the evening, during which the statue of the saint is carried on the shoulder through the city streets. Very suggestive is the exit of the simulacrum of the Saint from the Mother Church: the crowd of faithful welcomes the simulacrum with the firing of fireworks and the launch of the traditional "Nzaiareddi", in a riot of sounds and colors.
It was possible to reconstruct the origin of the summer feast of St. Joseph only through the stories of the local elders. According to these stories, in ancient times, in Giarratana there were Masonic lodges that had translated the traditional market fair of 21 September, in which the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate was celebrated, to the day before, the day of the anniversary of the breach of Porta Pia. The parish priest responded to this translation by still anticipating the fair to September 19 and since every 19th of the month a votive mass was celebrated in San Giuseppe, on the occasion of the fair the statue of the Patriarch was carried in procession. Since then, the summer procession became part of the traditional festivals of Giarratana while the traditional fair in memory of the consecration of the church of Sant’Antonio Abate has been lost over the years. In recent years, to reconcile this tradition with the feasts of neighboring countries, the feast of St. Joseph is celebrated on the second Sunday of September.
On the occasion of the summer feast of St. at the center of the traditional “Scinnuta” rite, that is the descent from the chapel of the main altar of the venerated simulacrum of the patriarch saint. On the Sunday of the festival, the two processions take place, the morning and the evening, during which the statue of the saint is carried on the shoulder through the city streets. Very suggestive is the exit of the simulacrum of the Saint from the Mother Church: the crowd of faithful welcomes the simulacrum with the firing of fireworks and the launch of the traditional "Nzaiareddi", in a riot of sounds and colors.
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References
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