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Festivals, Celebrations,
Events,
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Easter
Easter, or Pasqua in Italian (from the Hebrew Pesah or Passover) must fall between March 22nd and April 25th as
it always takes place on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
It is the most important Christian festival and is preceded by a period of fasting and penance: the 40 days of Lent.
Lent has traditionally been a time of moderation in food and drink. This fasting is interrupted however for one day:
the middle Thursday.
The origins of the Holy Week traditions in Sicily have been lost in the mists of time and often their original
meaning is not wholly understood, but they still offer a taste of the local folklore and follow a particular calendar
of rituals, starting with the representation of the Passion of the Christ followed by His Crucifixion and culminating
in His Resurrection. It is then that the real celebrations begin.
It is the period when houses are blessed and the Pascal lamb is eaten. Particular sweets and cakes in the shape
of doves and eggs which represent the rebirth of life are exchanged as gifts.
Lamb is the principal ingredient of Ragusa's Easter dishes such as "impanate" and "turcinuina"; types of focacce or pies.
For dessert, the delicious "cassate di ricotta" are prepared.
Ragusa Ibla, the oldest part of the city is the backdrop for most of the Holy Week ceremonies which start on
Palm Sunday with the parading of some of the statues from Saint George's Cathedral.
The first to move are the Brethren of the Church of Santa Maria dell'Itria who carry the statue of the Addolorata or
Sorrowful Virgin on their shoulders. Then come the Brethren of the Church of Saints Mary Magdalene and Theodore and
then those of the Church of the Most Holy Rosary who carry the statue of Christ tied to the pillar. On the Monday the
devotees of St. James the Apostle carry the Statue of Jesus in the Garden.
Holy Thursday sees the setting up of the Sepolcri or Sepulchres in most of the town's churches. This tradition
consists in dressing the altars with flowers and other funerary ornaments in order to symbolise the tomb where Jesus
was laid. The faithful bring vases and plates where they have sown seeds of wheat, barley or other cereals whose shoots,
grown in the dark to make them white, are tied around the middle with white and red ribbons. Tradition dictates that
the faithful visit an odd, and never even, number of sepolcri.
The procession on Good Friday is the most solemn event and sees and involves a large number of the faithful.
The statues of Christ and of the Sorrowful Virgin are carried by the brethren around the streets of the city before being
brought back to their churches.
The ceremonies in the upper and newer part of the city are concentrated around the Good Friday procession.
Almost all the churches of the area are involved and their statues are brought together in the square in front of the
cathedral before being carried around the streets.
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- Religious Festivals in Ragusa:
- Other Occassions:
- Festivals and Celebrations around the province
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