Tuscia is an interesting place to live -and visit- especially in May when several unusual festivals take place. On May 8th each year the town of Vetralla celebrates the Wedding of the Trees, the oldest genuine festa ecologica or environmental celebration. Costumed dancers cavort to the music of the town band, flag throwers perform and horsemen (and women) bearing bouquets of yellow broom/ginestra flowers gallop around the clearing in the forest of Monte Fogliano
Wedding of the Trees
Then the Mayor in his tri-color sash performs the symbolic wedding/sposalizio between two giant oaks decorated with veils and garlands. On the grandstand under the huge trees there are town officials, the Passionist priests who live in the neighboring monastery plus visiting VIPs. This ancient ceremony which reasserts the town’s possession - and protection - of the local forests is authenticated by the notary’s declaration and signed by the guests and officials. Often a few English visitors participate in this ceremony of possession for the town has historic English connections dating back to 1512 as seen on a monumental plaque located in Vetralla’s city hall.
monumental plaque, 1512, with coat-of-arms of Henry VIII, Pope
Julius II and Cardinal Bainbridge
The civil ceremony dates back to 1432 when Pope Eugene IV donated part of the patrimony of St. Peter, the forests of Monte Fogliano, to Vetralla thus insuring citizens the right to a cubic metre of firewood annually.
English guests Prof. Edward Corp and Mrs. Corp with the honor guard
Like Venice’s Wedding with sea, the Vetralla wedding of the trees reinstates the town’s sovereignty over the forests. In over 700 years the ceremony has been cancelled twice: in 1944 when German troops installed at the Passionist monastery of Sant’Angelo, forbade the population to come and in 2020 during Covid lockdown when a filmed virtual ceremony replaced the “live” one.
At min. 26 Fulvio makes an appearance to explain the ceremony- in Italian. Parts of the video (bedroom, library, kitchen) were filmed at my house !!
video taken during Covid
On May 14th the lake-side village of Marta is the place to admire another intriguing festival, the prototype of all May fairs: La Barabbata. Here the goddess Maia (maggio, the month of May is named for her), the myth of Persephone, Cerere (origin of “cereal”) and Mother Nature are all entwined and celebrated by the exclusively male participants - between 600 and 700 men of all ages !
The origins and significance of the ritual, officially dedicated to the Madonna del Monte, are lost in time but anthropologists tell us that this magic-popular-pagan feast is an earthy celebration of fertility rites dating to pre-Etruscan times. Led by horsemen known as casenghi, the spectacular processioin of fishermen, farmers and other male inhabitants of the town (women are mere onlookers) winds its way from the shore of Lake Bolsena up to the hillside sanctuary church which is decked in garlands of fruit and flowers straight out of a Renaissance painting.
one of the many floats in the procession
The men dressed as representatives of the town’s original trades, carry their tools: nets, guns and farmer’s rakes. White buffalo help pull 20 to 30 homemade floats that are piled high with the fruits of their labor in the fields, woods and lake. There are artistically arranged piles of cheeses, flowers, fruits, lake fish and out of season delicacies. At set intervals the participants roar out cheers and songs to the Madonna while the women coyly observe from balconies and windows, throwing flower petals down on the groups of men. Photos of the festival by John Ferro Sims.
A third unique spring festival is that held for the past 800 years on the third Sunday of May (the 19th this year) - the Pugnaloni in Acquapendente, the town closest to the border with Tuscany.
Groups of 15 to 20 persons from different parts of the town gather to compete in the creation of large religious themed “mosaics” made with leaves and flower petals. These floral works of art are then displayed for the entire year inside the Basilica del Santo Sepolcro. Not to be missed is the basilica’s crypt styled after the original Santo Sepolcro and the marvelous Diocesan Museum.
https://museodellacitta.eu/ and https://acquapendente.artecitta.it for a map and more information on the town.
For more information about this still relatively un-touristy part of central Italy order your copy of “Etruria travel, history and itineraries in central Italy “. Read reviews www.elegantetruria.com - BOOKS page .
12 euro plus postage - or pick up a copy in one of the many distribution points (museums, castles, historic sites, bookshops) throughout the Tuscia area .
Wonderful to read about these ancient and historical festivals in Tuscia
We always loved the various festas and sagras - always costumes and food!