|
MADONNA DEL BALZO'S DAY
|
||||
|
The feast, in August, is prepared by a daily pilgrimage to the Sanctuary. It takes place from August the 1st to the 15th and for this reason it is called "quindicina"(fifteen days). Every morning at dawn, devout people, saying Rosary, clime up, most of them barefoot, to Mount Triona. They walk along a cobbled road, leading to the Sanctuary , where they attend Mass at six or seven o'clock a.m. It is celebrated by a priest called from another town for the circumstance. In the evening small altars with a Madonna del Balzo image are prepared in the town quarters, people gather around them saying Rosary and singing"A Vui Sarvi Rigina", an ancient popular hymn dedicated to the Virgin. The so called "quindicina" comes to an end in the night between the 14th and the 15th of August, when pilgrims, coming even from other towns, crowd the Sanctuary. Here they attend Masses, which start at Midnight and go on up to the following morning. In the evening of the 15th of August the feast gets its climax in a solemn procession and in a firework show, followed by a band concert.
|
