Friday Challenge - The Biggest Event of the Year. Sant’Efiso. (Photos by Sard@rt)

This theme that you have proposed for this challenge is very interesting. Festivals, festivals or events for local communities are, very often, the sign and testimony of their civilization. Unchanged rituals that repeat over time, to remind everyone where we come from.
It is very important to preserve and preserve these customs in their most original aspects.

Traditions are a wealth for many peoples and there are places, such as the region where I live, Sardinia, an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, where these ancient traditions are deeply felt.
Sardinia is a land rich in stories and traditions.

Among the insular customs, one of the most typical elements is surely the variety of local customs, different from village to village and you can admire during the festival of Sant'Efisio who takes place every year on 1st May in Cagliari: festival rich in colors, costumes, tradition, and religion.

This is a very ancient festival and it is the testimony of the great devotion of the people of Sardinia for the Saint Efisio who in 1657 freed the city from a serious plague epidemic that decimated the population. Every year since then, the first of May a beautiful procession winds through the streets of the historic center of the city of Cagliari. In this event, it is possible to admire the beauty of traditional costumes from every country on the island.

One can not but admire the richness of the different male and female clothes that make up the show. The jewels of exceptional craftsmanship further enrich this fantastic island ethnographic heritage. Shawls, skirts, bodices, shirts ... all tell the skillful art of embroidery that the women of Sardinia have been handed down for generations.

Traditional colors and embroidery.

Even the animals, horses, and oxen, which take part in the procession, are decorated with the use of garlands, colored ribbons and flowers. Every year thousands of people follow this event, much loved not only by residents but also by tourists who are in the city.

A show of colors, sounds, and emotions that culminates with the passage of the chariot that contains the statue of the Holy Ephysius and that passes on a carpet of rose petals specially prepared by women and men in traditional costume and which is called "the ramadura ".

Of course, for this feast for days a very detailed ritual is followed both for the dressing of the Saint and for the procession. It is the various brotherhoods of the city that deal with these preparations. But the party involves all the civil and military authorities of the city. The Saint, after passing through the city, goes to the countryside, escorted by the faithful and spends a few nights in the place called Nora which is several kilometers from the city of Cagliari, in a church near the sea and then returns to the city in the small church at dedicated to him.

Every year I follow this event with my camera and I try to stop my attention on the thousand details of the clothes and the scenography. Every year a different and always exciting show. This year, the first of May, it was to be the 364 edition but, unfortunately, due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, it was not possible to carry out in the usual way. Only once again, during the Second World War, this procession could not be carried out but, the piety of the devotees, he wanted to carry the statue of the Saint in procession among the rubble of the city devastated by the bombings. Very emotional images of that episode remain.

Even the images of this year, of the procession which took place in the deserted streets of a city in full lock-down, will be remembered for a long time. But Sant’Efisio, I'm sure, this time also freed us from this epidemic.
Today we are free again and we are resuming our life and habits after so much pain and fear.

I gladly share with you some pictures of this which is, without a doubt, the most important event for my region. But even 20 posts are not enough to adequately describe it.

I invite you all to Sardinia for May 1st to see it live.

Thanks for your attention.
(All photos are mine)