Feast of San Calogero in Petralia Sottana
On 18 June in Petralia Sottana the celebrations for San Calogero, the patron saint, take place. The feast of San Calagero is preceded by the traditional "Sittina a San Calò" celebrated early in the morning, from 11 to 17 June, in the Mother Basilica overflowing with faithful. The traditional torchlight procession takes place on the evening of the eve of the festival.
The celebrations on June 18th begin with the sound of the bells, at six o'clock the statue of the Saint is placed by a member of the Committee the "reicola", that is the reliquary with the relic. A banquet is then set up at the entrance to the Church for the collection of offerings and the distribution of holy cards and blessed votive sandwiches. Various religious services follow. During the day, the faithful bring gold, little bells, ex voto, flowers, laurel sprigs, intertwined wheat shells, green beans, black cherry twigs, pumidda cannameli, which are tied with multicolored ribbons at the vara. In the afternoon, half an hour after the long chime of the call, solemn Vespers concluded, the Saint is placed on the vara and the tolling and rhythm of the mass bell increase frantically. The statue is dried with a white linen embroidered with the Saint's initials. This tablecloth will be kept and lent, on request, to the sick of the town. The start of the procession is announced by firecrackers, the roll of drums and the juggling of the banner, "u paliu". It is an ancient custom for San Calogero to leave the church backwards, so as not to turn his back on the Blessed Sacrament, kept in the chapel of the same name. The procession is divided into 18 stops in memory of the day on which the Saint, dying, reached glory. In some stops the porters are refreshed with biscuits and wine and are offered to all votive loaves.
The Saint with the vara returns to the Church after a long journey, and begins at "A spinnata da vara e du Santu" Saint is stripped of his precious clothes and covered with wooden ones and raised to the altar that houses him in the Mother Church.
The celebrations on June 18th begin with the sound of the bells, at six o'clock the statue of the Saint is placed by a member of the Committee the "reicola", that is the reliquary with the relic. A banquet is then set up at the entrance to the Church for the collection of offerings and the distribution of holy cards and blessed votive sandwiches. Various religious services follow. During the day, the faithful bring gold, little bells, ex voto, flowers, laurel sprigs, intertwined wheat shells, green beans, black cherry twigs, pumidda cannameli, which are tied with multicolored ribbons at the vara. In the afternoon, half an hour after the long chime of the call, solemn Vespers concluded, the Saint is placed on the vara and the tolling and rhythm of the mass bell increase frantically. The statue is dried with a white linen embroidered with the Saint's initials. This tablecloth will be kept and lent, on request, to the sick of the town. The start of the procession is announced by firecrackers, the roll of drums and the juggling of the banner, "u paliu". It is an ancient custom for San Calogero to leave the church backwards, so as not to turn his back on the Blessed Sacrament, kept in the chapel of the same name. The procession is divided into 18 stops in memory of the day on which the Saint, dying, reached glory. In some stops the porters are refreshed with biscuits and wine and are offered to all votive loaves.
The Saint with the vara returns to the Church after a long journey, and begins at "A spinnata da vara e du Santu" Saint is stripped of his precious clothes and covered with wooden ones and raised to the altar that houses him in the Mother Church.
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References
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