Feast of Sant'Onofrio in Casalvecchio Siculo

The festival in honor of the Patron Saint Sant'Onofrio Eremita in Casalvecchio Siculo is of great importance and is celebrated on 12 June, on the occasion of the liturgical event when the procession of the Simulacrum of the Saint takes place, and on the second Sunday of September when it the great external celebration was organized.
The cult of Sant'Onofrio Eremita in Casalvecchio is very ancient and dates back to the times in which the Byzantine monks of the Greek rite settled in this area, building the abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.
The celebrations take on a more solemn and, at times, folkloristic tone, during the great external festival in September, a celebration born as thanks to the patron saint for having escaped the town from the Messina plague of 1743.
The days of celebration they are characterized by numerous moments of aggregation during which popular games called, in local jargon, musticheddhi, pignati and pateddi (a sort of piñata game) are played.
On the Friday preceding the festival, the procession of the wooden half-bust takes place which reaches the Pestarriu district where, according to tradition, the plague stopped and where there is a votive shrine in memory of the miracle. Upon the return of the procession to the Mother Church, the most evocative and significant moment of the festival takes place: the unveiling of the precious silver statue of the patron saint, created by the Casalvetini on the occasion of the escape from the plague of 1743.
On the festive Sunday, the traditional parade takes place through the streets of the village of the camiddhu, or camel, an allegorical mask with which the Casalvetino people celebrate the civil autonomy obtained from the nearby municipality of Savoca in 1793. U Camiddu, which metaphorically depicts the nearby Savoca with the two humps representing the Bivertice mountain on which it stands, is beaten, humiliated and finally tamed, amidst the shouts of the people, byu camiddaru, representing Casalvecchio Siculo. It is a moment of folklore not connected to the life of the Saint but the choice to parade this curious wooden mask on the day of the celebration is linked to the fact that on this date all the families are gathered in the village, including those of migrants.< br>On the evening of the festive Sunday, at the end of the Solemn Eucharistic Celebration, the silvery simulacrum of Saint Onofrio is carried in procession.
During the festive days a rich program of collateral events, such as concerts, musical and entertainment shows.

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