#27 Ten spectacular Easter celebrations in Sicily

Sicily bucket list

Spring in Sicily is probably my favourite season in Italy; as the sun comes out and warms us up with its welcomed rays, the countryside quickly becomes aflush with blossoming flowers and greenery.

It is warm enough for you to get outside, yet you still need to dress like an onion, as the weather is still windy with chilly nights and the persistent threat of rain. It is so pleasant, without any sign of humidity or the interminable lion's sun of August, which always promises to devour you in the summer.

The perfect celebration of Spring in Sicily is the religious ceremonies of Easter, which is even more popular and colourful than Christmas or any other traditions in Italy. Sicily comes alive in April; each town has its own processions, parties and costumes to celebrate.

Santa Pasqua in Sicily is so rich, filled with ancient rites and traditions that are as colourful and variegated as the island. The week leading up to Easter is brimming with religious celebrations, food preparations, processions and parades.

Each festivity is part of an elaborate pageant mixing religion and paganism in the festivities, marking the end of Winter and the rebirth of Spring.

Visiting any small town has its versions of the Sicilian religious traditions. The week begins with intricately woven palm fronds which are blessed for Palm Sunday, reaching a dramatic climax with passionate performances and ends with the consumption of delicate marzipan sculptured lambs or picureddi, bread or biscuits decorated with dyed eggs, many traditional dishes and endless desserts in the usual abundance of Sicily's table.

If you are planning a trip to Sicilia to experience the festivities, here is a list of the ten most spectacular celebrations on the island.

1. I Diavulazzi di Pasqua Adrano, Catania

Easter at Adrano in the province of Catania is focused on the Diavolata, a performance of an ancient religious play. Written in 1728 by a local religious brother, it is performed on the evening of Easter Sunday. The Diavolata acts out the eternal battle between good and evil. The central part of the drama focuses on the struggle between several devils and St Michael the Archangel, who not only manages to defeat the evil doers but also gets them to praise God.

On the evening before Easter, there is the flight of the Angel, where a terrified-looking adolescent girl is strapped in and hoisted along a tightrope across the local square to meet the

statue of the freshly resurrected Christ and recites a speech welcoming and praising him.

2. Gli Incappucciati, Enna

Nineteenth-century German Romantic Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have visited Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything. But to understand Sicily, you must go to the geographical centre because the island's true identity is to be found there.

The province of Enna is known as the belly button of Sicily and is the home to Sicily's most ancient traditions.

The sinister hooded Incappuciati are the central characters of Enna's Easter celebrations, dating back to the Spanish period from the 15th and 17th centuries.

The male-only members of the fifteen local confraternities participate in a well-organised series of processions, prayers and worship in the local Cathedral.

3. Pashkët at Piana degli Albanesi, Palermo

At Piana degli Albanesi and nearby towns in the region of Palermo, Easter takes on elements of the Greek Orthodox faith. The celebrations are based on the ancient Byzantine church; in fact, many of the rites performed to use the Greek and Albanian languages. The towns of Contessa Entellina, San Cristina Gela, Mezzojuso and Palazzo Adriano also share this particular ethnic characteristic in their Easter festivities.

These towns' traditions reflect their history as an ancient colony of people from Albania, refugees from the Balkans who fled religious persecution during the Ottoman Empire in the late 15th century.

In 1482–85, after several attacks from the Ottomans, the Christian Albanians were forced to the Adriatic coast, where they hired ships from the Republic of Venice, escaped by sea and managed to reach Sicily.

These refugees were eventually granted land in the mountains above Palermo, where they could maintain their Greek orthodox religion and traditions without being persecuted.

The religious rites for Easter at Piano degli Albanesi end with the Pontificale, a grand parade of women in elegant traditional dress which weaves its way through the town's main streets, stopping at the Cathedral.

White doves are released at the end of the parade amongst the songs of the local dialect and the distribution of red-coloured eggs, symbolic of new life and the bloodshed during the crucifixion.

4. Il Ballo dei diavoli at Prizzi, Palermo

At Prizzi in the province of Palermo, several devils and death themselves disturb the celebrations on Easter day with their macabre dance until other angelic characters eventually defeat them.

The devils are dressed in one-piece red jumpsuits, with large round flat-faced masks with a long fabric tongue, covered in goatskin and a chain in their hands. In contrast, death is dressed in yellow with a crossbow in hand—a fascinating mixture of dance, paganism and religion which is so common in a Sicilian Easter celebration.

5. I Giudei San Fratello, Messina

The apex of the grotesque characters in Sicily's Santa Pasqua is the Giudei of San Fratello. The flocks of hooded, brightly dressed men take over the village and disturb the solemn funeral procession on the morning of Good Friday and other marches during the week.

These characters come out of Sicily's history with all of their colour, practical jokes and loud trumpeting. The costumes are handed down from father to son. They are in a bright red pseudo-military style, complete with elaborate helmets, shiny yellow striped lapels and intricate beading work, which make them like living, breathing works of folk art echoing the vibrant designs of the traditional carretto Siciliano.

The Medieval Norman colony of San Fratello is the home to these strangely dressed men who gather out of the ether and tie together many strands of history. The deafening confusion they create seems frightening, but this uproar is life-affirming chaos.

This celebration has gone on uninterrupted for generations; it went on during both world wars. Thanks to these Giudei, the Sanfratellani have been called 'non-catholic' and 'devils', yet these characters are central to San Fratello's identity.

6. I misteri, Trapani

Trapani's Misteri procession re-enacts scenes from the passion of Christ, with a parade of detailed massive wooden statues depicting different scenes from this eternal story.

The celebration at Trapani is probably the most well-known of the Misteri-based festivities, which occur throughout the island, simply because of the dimension of the statues and the incredible artistry of the extremely vibrant figures.

The Misteri depict the passion of Christ, and the symbolic elements are also associated with the story. Side by side with the artworks are objects like spears, hammers and a crown of thorns in an extended religious metaphor, like an elaborate Mystery play from the Middle Ages.

The festivities in Trapani begin on the Tuesday after Palm Sunday with the Madonna of the Pieta procession. Known locally as the Massari, the artwork dates back to the sixteenth century, displayed within an ornate golden frame. The canvas depicts Maria Addolorata, looking to her left on a dark background with many holy relics.

Image from Unsplash

7. Gli Archi di Pasqua San Biagio Palatani, Agrigento

Apart from the religious and pagan elements of Easter, there is also an immense dedication to decoration and artistry. At San Biagio Platani, the city's streets are taken over by elaborately constructed archways, domes, bells and religious artworks.

In the months before Easter, the two major historical confraternities of San Biagio work to create a massive piece of public folk art. Using only natural materials to decorate the streets with arches, all with religious and natural symbolism like bamboo, weeping willow, asparagus, laurel leaves, rosemary, cereals, dates and bread.

The decorated archways become increasingly elaborate as they reach the central part of the town, which becomes the focal point of the Easter Sunday procession as the Madonna and the resurrected Christ meet precisely at the centre of the decorations.

8. Lu Signuri delle Fasci Pietraperzia, Enna

One of the island's most elaborate and complex processions is that of Pietraperzia in the central region of Sicily. The Signuri di li fasci creates an intricate piece of liturgical performance.

On Good Friday, a traditional crucifix is fixed to a big log, and a complex series of linen strips are wrapped around its base. Devout followers hold the white strands as the procession makes its way delicately through the streets, accompanied by prayers in the local dialect. The fabric strands are reminiscent of medieval Maypoles, but the performance is unique to Sicily.

Usually, those who hold onto the forty-meter-long fabric strips either ask for a miracle or thank God for a divine intervention that has already occurred or are maintaining a family tradition. The cavalcade is accompanied by the local confraternity in their hooded monk costumes, who carry the statue of the Madonna dell'Addolorata.

9. La Settimana Santa, Caltanissetta

Easter week at Caltanissetta is unique; Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is filled with elaborate performances, baroque processions, reenactments of the Last Supper, the cross stations, and traditional rites that reflect Sicily's ancient and, at times, aristocratic past.

Palm Sunday sees the Processione of Gesù Nazareno, where a statue of Christ is placed within an elaborate boat-shaped flower-decorated float and carried around the city in a recreation of Jesus' triumphant arrival in Nazareth. On Easter Monday, there is a performance of the Last Supper.

While on Wednesday, the procession of the Maestranza sees a parade of local military, noble families and artisan guilds of the city in a blend of civil and religious elements.

On the dark funeral day of Good Friday, while the city is in mourning and the Cristo Nero (or darkened Christ- because of its colour) becomes the focus of a profoundly religious procession.

10. La Corsa di San Leone Sinagra, Messina

I cannot make up a list of suggestive Easter celebrations without mentioning my little Sicilian village, which combines the love of the local patron saint San Leone with the joy of Easter.

San Leone is taken on an elaborate procession from his country church, of the same name, to the main parish church of San Michele Arcangelo. The large wooden statue is mounted onto a massive wooden float carried through the heart of town by the Confraternity of San Leone.

When the Saint arrives at the bridge at the beginning of the town, the statue runs over the bridge accompanied by suggestive fireworks.

The running of the Saint recalls one of his miracles. While San Leone was the Bishop of Catania, he confronted a magician who claimed to be more powerful than God. The Saint challenged him to a literal baptism of fire, which saw the magician burnt to death while Saint Leo remained unscathed by the flames of a bomb fire.

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