Varia di Palmi
The Varia di Palmi is a pious custom of the Catholics in the southern Italian city of Palmi , which is celebrated every few years on the last Sunday in August. The festival with procession takes place in honor of the Virgin Mary , the Virgin of the Holy Letter , who is the city's patron saint . It is arguably the most significant event in the Calabria region and part of the Rete delle grandi macchine a spalla italiane , an association for moving large processional structures that are carried on the shoulders, which in 2013 was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity has been.
The Varia is a huge, table-shaped construction that is supposed to represent the universe and the Assumption of Mary into heaven . The structure has a height of 16 meters and is carried on the shoulders by 200 girders ("Mbuttaturi"). There are figures on it depicting the Virgin Mary, Christ , the apostles and the angels . Several relics of the Mother of God are also carried in the procession .
origin
The custom dates back to 1582, when the Senate of Messina gave the city of Palmi the relic of a hair of the Virgin Mary to express its gratitude for the help given to the city of Palmi during a thirty-year plague epidemic . Many citizens had fled to Palmi and were taken there. The hair relic of the Virgin Mary was said to have been in Messina, Sicily , since the year 42 , along with a letter also attributed to the Virgin Mary. This is how the devotion to the Virgin of the Holy Letter came to Palmi from Messina. In the years when the Varia di Palmi is not celebrated, the last Sunday in August is celebrated as the feast day of the Virgin of the Holy Letter.
The festival has won several prizes since 1900, appeared on the cover of the newspaper La Domenica del Corriere and is broadcast live by several Italian television channels. In addition, a postage stamp with the motif of the Varia was issued.
Varia di Palmi 1938
Icon of the Virgin of the Holy Letter
Varia di Palmi 2013
Varia di Palmi 2013
Varia di Palmi 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ Varia di Palmi Heritage of Humanity (Italian).
Web links
- UNESCO, information in English
- 30 new entries in UNESCO lists of intangible cultural heritage : Italy: processions of the tower structures carried on shoulders
- Archive Varia di Palmi (Italian)
- Varia di Palmi (Italian)
Representative List : Sicilian Puppet Theater (2001) | Canto a tenore (2005) | Traditional violin making in Cremona (2012) | Processions with shoulder shrines ( Macchina di Santa Rosa in Viterbo, Varia di Palmi in Palmi, Gigli di Nola in Nola and Faradda di li Candareri in Sassari) (2013) | Mediterranean cuisine ( Italian cuisine ) (2013) | Vite ad alberello on the island of Pantelleria (2014) | Falconry (2016) | Art of Neapolitan Pizza Making (2017)