FESTE RELIGIOSE POPOLARI. — Not outside the Church, but alongside it and together with it, the people have created and preserved interesting manifestations that accompany official worship and complement it with notes of colour, testimonies of fervent faith, humble and meaningful offerings, songs, and other expressions of profound religious feeling. And although in certain forms of popular festivity it is possible to discern some trace of pre-Christian ceremonies and customs, it is also true that the Church has always watched over these popular manifestations, seeking to regulate them so that they do not conflict with liturgical norms.
Various classifications of these f. r. p. have been attempted: some scholars (e.g., Canon F. Polese) have taken as their basis the motives that determine them (feasts on a liturgical or legendary theme, founded on a miracle, seasonal feasts, feasts of an extra-liturgical nature, processional feasts, expiatory feasts, etc.); others (A. Van Gennes) have connected and interpreted them as periodic cyclical ceremonies, associated with agricultural work and formed in the ethnographic sphere since antiquity (the cycle of the twelve days comprising the feasts from Christmas to Epiphany, those of Carnival–Lent, Easter, May, s. Giovanni and s. Pietro, etc.). But such classifications are more or less artificial; nevertheless, a practical division may be made into two broad categories: 1) calendar feasts that accompany the most solemn forms of worship throughout the year; 2) patronal feasts that satisfy particular local needs.
Within the great variety of expressions of popular religiosity during the feasts, it is nevertheless possible to highlight the most important common forms and expressions, as well as some of the most typical aspects.
The participation of the popular classes is already evident in the preparation of the feast, in the competition through which families, confraternities, and allied neighbourhoods display the various forms of ornamentation and festive expression. Often the organization of the feast is undertaken by qualified and responsible persons, the « festioli », who provide for it through collections and through auctions for the right to carry the statue of the saint or other sacred images during the procession. At times this right is hereditary in certain families. Also typical of the preparatory phase is the custom of novenas, played and sung by bagpipers or blind minstrel singers at street corners or before the homes of the devout, who « take the novena » by offering a small donation.
To the popular element are owed the fervent manifestations of joy that take place on the day of the feast, with shouts, songs, dances, games, races, and palios that create an atmosphere of joyous fervour. Also characteristic are certain intense expressions of religious and mystical feeling, with invocations for grace, prayers, weeping, and moved voices, especially when the sacred image passes by or when the miracle occurs, as at the feast of s. Gennaro in Naples, or that of s. Nicola in Bari, etc. In some places, for example at Matera (Lucania), at the end of the feast the triumphal structure of the Madonna della Bruna is attacked and reduced to pieces, which the crowd fights over and then preserves as amulets. In processions intended to avert drought, in some towns of southern Italy,
the saint is asked for grace through violent invocations, or his statue is plunged into a watercourse or a spring. In many regions of central and southern Italy and in Sicily, the sacred simulacrum or the principal saint is followed or surrounded by a procession of statues of lesser saints (called « santoni »). For the feast of s. Domenico di Cocullo (Abouazo), the statue of the Saint goes out in procession covered with snakes, followed by the faithful, who carry snakes wrapped around their bodies or throw them at the simulacrum itself.
Of particular interest for their spectacular grandeur are the sacred carts, processional structures, and processions of gigantic statues. Sacred carts may be divided (according to R. Corso) into two groups: votive and scenic, the former offered for graces or favours received; the latter relating to sacred representations that used to be performed in memory of miraculous or legendary events. Among the former are the ceri of Gubbio, the candelieri of Sassari and Nulvi, and the gigli of Nola; among the latter are the structure of s. Rosa in Viterbo and that of s. Rossini in Palermo, the twelve mysteries of Campobasso for the feast of Corpus Domini, the bier of the Madonna della Lettera in Messina, and processional structures in the form of boats or ships, recalling the landing or miraculous apparition of a saint, as at Nola for s. Paolino, at Mazara (Sicily) for s. Vito, at Potenza for s. Gerardo, and so forth.
Famous are the « genis de cortege » of Belgium, large processional statues representing Samson, the shepherd David, the Devil Magnone, the Wild Man, etc., accompanied by rare and fantastic animals; in the procession of Nivelles there appear the fish, the unicorn, the dromedary, the dragon, as well as « cheval Bayard » (ridden by the « quatre fils Aymon »), « cheval-godet », etc. Processional giants are also known in Italy: suffice it to recall the two Giants of Mistretti, who go out for the feast of the Madonna (8 Sept.), and those of Messina, Corpus Domini (v.).
But the broadest popular participation in religious feasts is found in the actual sacred representations that continue here and there to survive in various forms, from simple dramatic processions, consisting of statuary groups or animated by sacred or symbolic figures, to dramas and tragedies inspired by the life of Christ: the Passion of Oberammergau is famous, but almost everywhere, including Italy, analogous manifestations are numerous and interesting, from the Passion of Sordevolo (Piedmont) and that of Sezze (Lazio), to the « Struggle of the angel and the devil » in many towns of Irpinia, the « Pighiana » (that is, the capture of Christ) of Gagliano and other localities of Calabria, and the « Journey of the Three Magi », performed in the countryside around Taranto for Epiphany. In all these forms of sacred theatre, the characters are as a rule played by common people. As a complement to a large part of the f. r. p., decorations such as flowers and foliage should be considered; these sometimes give rise to manifestations of high artistic value, such as the inflorata of Genzano (Rome) for the feast of Corpus Domini. Very common is the practice of strewing flowers along the streets through which the procession passes, or of throwing flowers from the windows onto the statue of the saint and the procession of the faithful. A picturesque element of considerable value is also provided by the custom of decorating balconies and window sills with carpets, blankets, hangings, and damasks. Famous in Bologna are the decorations for the Sundays following Corpus Domini: garlands of greenery and flowers and multicoloured fabrics link together the houses facing one another in every district, while the windows and doors are adorned with carpets, hangings, and precious brocades.
Another complementary element of popular initiative consists of illuminations, the use of torches in nocturnal processions, and the great fires and bonfires lit for certain feasts, such as that of s. Antonio abate, the Ascension, and above all s. Giovanni Battista. This latter custom harkens back to very ancient agrarian rites that survive, in a Christian setting, especially in solemnities connected with the great labours of the fields.
For particular information concerning the principal feasts, Christmas, Easter, etc., V. the corresponding entries.
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A. A. Bernardy, I nostri «geants de cortège», in Pollaure, 6 (1931),
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