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EASTER IN SICILY
Sicily is famous for its spectacular celebrations
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Sicily is famous for its spectacular celebrations
surrounding Pasqua (Easter) as Sicilians head to church
and take to the streets in parades to honour the most
important week in the Christian calendar. Festivities
continue throughout Holy Week, culminating on Easter
Sunday, when families enjoy a lunch based on roast lamb
and specially-prepared cakes. Pasquetta (Easter Monday)
is traditionally the rst chance for a spring outing in the
year, when Sicilians head for parks, beaches and nature
reserves to have a picnic. All over the island, in large towns
and tiny villages alike, processions weave their way
through narrow streets, central thoroughfares and piazzas
until nally they arrive at the local parish church or
Cathedral.

Easter also signals the arrival of Spring, and many pagan
traditions that used to mark the arrival of the “beautiful
season” have been incorporated into the religious
festivities.

For food lovers, Easter is a great time to come to Sicily:
enticing seasonal delicacies and gastronomic delights
celebrate the bounty of Primavera. It is the time for
Martorana, or Pasta Reale, marzipan confectionary that is
delighfully shaped and painted to resemble fruit of all
types. With Easter being a time for celebration, the
Cassata, Sicily’s signature cake, made of sweetened
ricotta chesse, marzipan and candied fruit, graces tables
all over the island. Fresh peas, fava beans and artichokes

all over the island. Fresh peas, fava beans and artichokes
combine wonderfully in “frittella”, and the tuna sh season
gets underway…The Cassata, Sicily’s signature cake,
made of sweetened ricotta chesse, marzipan and candied
fruit, graces tables all over the island.
Returning to the more sacred aspects of ‘Pasqua’,
however, here are a few interesting events to experience if
you’re visiting Sicily at Easter and want to taste the

you’re visiting Sicily at Easter and want to taste the
atmosphere of age-old traditions:
In the west
Probably the most renowned religious manifestations of
devotion in Sicily are the “Mysteries” of Trapani on Good
Friday, in which the townsmen carry statues through the
streets. Each statue represents one of the stations of the
cross and are all made by the various local guilds.
Thousands of Sicilians line the streets awaiting the arrival

Thousands of Sicilians line the streets awaiting the arrival
of the Virgin Mary “in search” of her son. A similar
procession takes place in Caltanisetta on Maundy
Thursday.
Erice and Busetto Palazzolo both have evocative
processions on Good Friday. At Erice, the celebrations are
similar to those at Trapani, with statues being carried
through the town, while at Busetto, there is a wonderful

through the town, while at Busetto, there is a wonderful
costumed recreation of the Stations of the Cross.
Palermo and around In Partanna-Mondello, a suburb of
Palermo, the Easter week is celebrated with costumed and
scripted recreations of Christ’s arrival at Jerusalem
(5.00pm on Palm Sunday), the Last Supper (9.00pm on
Maundy Thursday) and the Stations of the Cross (11.00am
on the Saturday before Easter Sunday). Thousands of
locals attend these events and the atmosphere is one of
great devotion.

Also of great interest, though not only at Easter, is the
mountain town of Piana degli Albanesi just south of
Palermo. As the name suggests, Piana degli Albanesi was
founded by Albanian immigrants eeing a Turkish invasion
in 1488. Being somewhat isolated, the town has managed
to maintain much of its original identity and many of its
traditions, one of which is its Orthodox Easter celebrations
(it has been a Greek Orthodox Bishopric since 1937). On
Palm Sunday, there is a procession through the streets to

Palm Sunday, there is a procession through the streets to
mark Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Festivities continue all
week until Easter Sunday when the townsfolk put on their
traditional 15th Century costumes and hand out previously
blessed red hand-painted eggs. After Mass there is the
procession of the Holy Veil, a piece of cloth in which
believers can make out the face of Christ.

Another option is a trip to San Martino delle Scale, a small
village hidden away in the mountains just behind Palermo.
Here, on Easter Monday, the monks of the Benedictine
Monastery celebrate Easter and the coming of Spring by
freeing the birds they have saved from the harsh mountain
winter. The birds are kept in a large specially built aviary
and their release is part of a tradition that goes back over
300 years. The arrival of Spring is also celebrated with
concerts, enormous oral arrangements and Gregorian
chant, all of which create a wonderful festive atmosphere.

Partanna Partanna Erice Erice Trapani Trapani
On Palm Sunday, Caccamo, a mountain town east of
Palermo hosts a marathon procession called “U
Signuruzzu a Cavaddu”. At 9.00am the bells of the many
churches signal the commencement of proceedings and
an altar boy, riding a donkey, is accompanied through the
streets by the local band and 12 children dressed in red
tunics, holding palm fronds. For three hours, the troupe
tours the town’s churches, receiving, at each one, a
tumultuous welcome.

Caccamo, signuruzzu a cavaddu
Meanwhile in Prizzi, in the hills south of Palermo, a very
different event takes place on Easter Sunday – The Dance
of the Devils. Wearing red and black satanic masks
complete with horns and grotesque noses, a portion of the
townsfolk wreak havoc, constraining passers-by to buy
them drinks (a metaphor for stealing their souls). In the
struggle that ensues between good and evil, it is Christ
and the Madonna who triumph, along with other locals
dressed as angels. During the ensuing celebrations the

dressed as angels. During the ensuing celebrations the
devils are “forced” to get the drinks in and “cannateddi”, a
typical Easter cake, is distributed.
In Gangi, in the Madonie Mountains, the most important
day of the Easter calendar is Palm Sunday, which sees a
procession through the streets, with drummers, and

procession through the streets, with drummers, and
members of the various religious confraternities dressed
in white tunics and coloured cloaks, carrying specially
created arrangements of palm fronds and owers. Mass in
the Chiesa Madre is signalled by the drum voluntary.
Catania and around

On Easter Sunday in Adrano, on the south-west anks of
Mount Etna, the triumph of good over evil – as in Prizzi –
is celebrated with the “Diavolata”. In the central piazza a
stage is erected and divided into two parts: one devoted to
Hell, inhabited by the Devil and ve demons, and the other
to Heaven. The Diavolata is, in effect, a play in which an
angel battles against the Devil, trying to make him and his

angel battles against the Devil, trying to make him and his
demons say the words “Viva Maria”. The costumes are
colourful and there are even some stage effects, such as
smoke and re. The outcome of the struggle, seeing that it
takes place on Easter Day, leaves noone surprised.
At Bronte, on the western anks of Mount Etna, Good
Friday and the Passion of Christ is celebrated with a
heartfelt, highly-charged costumed procession, re-enacting
the Stations of the Cross. Silence is expected from
observers, and only the beating of drums can be heard… A
similar event takes place in Caltagirone.

At Forza d’Agro’, just north of Taormina, on Easter Monday,
the locals continue an age-old tradition, including a
procession of holy oils, laurels, the distribution of home-
made bread called ‘cuddure’ and a small competition to
choose the best religious banner made out of laurel
leaves.

In the south-east

http://www.destinationsicily.it/easter-in-sicily/ 20/35Easter Sunday in Modica is characterised by the solemn

Easter Sunday in Modica is characterised by the solemn
procession of the “Madonna Vasa Vasa”. A statue of the
Virgin Mary is carried around the town before arriving at
Piazza San Domenico where she encounters a statue of
Jesus and kisses him.
Just up the road in Noto, the week of Easter is celebrated
with a series of processions including one in the afternoon

with a series of processions including one in the afternoon
of Good Friday and another in the morning of Easter Day.
Similar events also take place in Ragusa Ibla.
At Scicli, on Palm Sunday an ancient statue of the
Madonna della Pieta’ – discovered in around 1,000AD,
after being hidden from the Saracens for several hundred
years – is transferred from the Church of Santa Maria La
Nova to the Church of Carmine.
If you’re staying in the south-east, you could also pop

If you’re staying in the south-east, you could also pop
along to Ferla, near Syracuse, on Holy Saturday. Here at
9.00pm the town’s church bells signal the beginning of
celebration starting with a reworks display. Church’s are
illuminated, the town band plays and a procession begins.
Some hardy souls continue all through the night carrying
Christ’s body round the town in a torch-lit vigil.
In San Biagio Platani (in the province of Agrigento) on
Easter Sunday. Two religious factions deck the town in
colourful decorative arches made from all sorts of

colourful decorative arches made from all sorts of
materials including vegetables and cereals. Each group’s
work is prepared in absolute secrecy during the weeks
leading up to Easter and each attempts to outdo the other.
The competitive spirit is, however, just a backdrop to the
more important celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

A SICILIAN EASTER Pasqua siciliana

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