St. Efisio
on Tina's Journal (China), 02/May/2011 16:55, 34 days ago
La festa di Sant' Efisiois one of the biggest festivals celebrated in Sardinia. It runs from the 1st to the 4th May every year. On the 1st there are celebrations in Cagliari with a procession of people from towns all over the island wearing their local traditional Sardinan costumes. The Saint then leaves the city and heads south west driven by two greatBuoi(oxen) and stays the night in Sarroch. On the 2nd it leaves the village and heads to Nora. Around lunchtime today he arrived into Pula escorted by a procession of horses and locals in the traditional Sardinian clothing. Many local residents were there to greet him despite the rain!Saint Efisio is the patron saint of Cagliari and the festival dates back nearly 400 years as he was believed to have saved the city from the Plague in 1652. This evening he'll make his way to the small church in Nora, accompanied by a display of fireworks. Tomorrow evening he'll be paraded back to the church in Pula and the following morning (the 4th) head back to Caglairi where more celebrations will greet his arrival. Below in the short video, I recorded the last part of the procession into Pula: the arrival of the Statue of St Efisio escorted by young men playing theLauneddas;a traditional Sardinian woodwind instrument.Over these four days Pula comes to life every evening with entertainment and shows in the mainPiazzaplus stalls selling artisan products and the famousTorrone(Sardinian Nougat). We have had rain here though on and off for the past two weeks and there doesn't seem to be much change in the forecast over the next couple of days....hopefully this won't put people off enjoying the celebrations. Tomorrow evening Marco Carta will be singing in the piazza, a famous Italian singer who actually comes from Cagliari!During these types of festivals I notice even more how tight the community is in this local area. Because so many people come out to see the parade you start to realise just how many people you actually know, some very well and some not so well. In some ways it can give you a secure feeling that you 'belong' to a community and yet in other ways you can at times feel that too many people know what you're doing. However, on the whole I have personally found that people don't try and interfere with my life. For some locals who have grown up here though, they have more difficulty and feel at times that they need to confirm to the idea of what others think they should be doing. I think that's a real pity, but there is hope because I have also noticed over the years that I have lived on and off here, that people are becoming more tolerant and accepting of 'difference'.