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The
feast day of Saint Anthony |
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Fuoco |
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| The
feast day of Saint Anthony (better known as St. Anthony Abbot),
observed on January 17, marked the start of the Carnival season. |
| The
saintly monk, usually represented with at his side a pig and an
ebony branch in his hand, was said to have descended into Hell to
steal fire for mankind. He was, therefore, the object of deep popular
devotion, with roots going back to time immemorial. |
| From
earliest history, man has regarded fire as sacred, owing to its
dual role, both as a source of purification (and therefore, beneficial)
and, at the same time, as a destructive force. |
| Christian
tradition was unable to eradicate its atavistic symbolism and thus
endowed Saint Anthony with powers and perquisites of previous pagan
entities, related to the Olympian gods, as for instance, Prometheus. |
| In
light of what has been said, the Saint’s journey to the underworld,
according to tradition, can be regarded as one of the initiation
rites performed at the start of the seasonal renewal cycle, the
start of life, symbolized by the germination of seeds. |
| Saint
Anthony acquires the role of guardian saint of the hearth, the protector
against fires, the patron of animals, with which man’s life
is linked as it is with fire. The Saint is invoked also as patron
of ceramists and generally of all those who deal with fire in the
course of their work. |
| Because
of the close connection between Saint Anthony and fire, his feast
day came to be celebrated with bonfires in different sections of
Calitri (Vuccul', Cascina,
Torr', Castiegghij',,
etc.) and often even in the surrounding countryside. |
| The
gathering of wood for the bonfires, in which children as well as
adults participated, began generally the day after Epiphany (January
6). Different sections of town competed with each other in building
the largest bonfire. |
| Folks
would go from door to door asking for wood reciting a refrain that,
freely translated, went like this: “trick track and thunder,
give Saint Anthony your lumber, but if you won’t give it up,
let’s hope it burns you up”. |
| The
tall reddish flames, the popping sparks, and the blaze that lit
up the sky at nightfall, were reason enough for being outdoors,
in the middle of winter, huddled around a fire in fun loving company. |
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