The whole province of Agrigento livens up on Christmas time. The feast is commemorated here and throughout Sicily with two central rituals. The first, referred to as the Novena, consisted of extensive hymns that in nine days, from 16 to 24 December, narrate the vicissitudes of the Nativity following the Christian Liturgy. It is held in the house of a devotee, who commissioned it, with the participation of the believers and performances by “Zampognari” (bagpipe players) playing traditional Christmas carols. The second related ritual, called “la Pastorale”, is rather more a secular event than a religious celebration. It is a comic performance made by three characters, Nardu and Mirtiddi, two lazy shepherds, and “U Curaduru” the master of flock and boss of the shepherds. Eventually the shepherd’s attention is attracted by a mysterious light which leads them to the cave of the Nativity, where they witness Jesus Christ’s blivens up at Christmas time. The Christ’s birth is celebrated here with two characteristic events. The first, named “Novena”, lasts for nine days, from 16 to 24 December, and narrates the vicissitudes of the Holy Family according to the Gospel. It is held in the house of a devotee, who usually sponsors the celebration, and consists in the collective recitation of a number of sacred hymns with the musical accompaniment of a group of “zampognari” (bagpipe players), playing traditional Christmas carols. The second event, called “Pastorale”, is more a secular than a religious celebration. It is a comic performance played by three characters, Nardu and Mirtiddi, two lazy shepherds, and their employer, “U Curaduru”. After a few comic scenes, the shepherds’ attention is attracted by a mysterious light leading them to the cave of Nativity, where they eventually witness Jesus Christ’s birth.

Within the province of Messina, in the very heart of Nebrodi mountains, the major event of Christmas celebrations is a traditional procession of shepherds, in a typical folkloristic suit, who walk through woods and mountain trails towards the Nativity barn, illuminating the night with torchlights. It is usually held on Christmas Eve, and it is one of the few celebrations still keeping its atmosphere of fervent religiousness and humble sincere devotion.

At Christmas time, the town of Erice (Trapani) features an annual international folk music festival, “La Zampogna d’oro”, attracting a large number of visitors from all over the world. This multicoloured festival, in keeping with Christmas atmosphere, is a good occasion to hear Italian bagpipe players’ performances and admire the work of bagpipe manufacturers, whose precious know-how has been handed down through generations.

Among Christmas celebrations, the tradition of Cribs in Sicily has always played an important role as a form of popular devotion. The custom of displaying cribs of small-size statues in churches dates back to the XV century, but has spread more extensively since XIX century, when it also extended to private houses. The little handcrafted statues are usually made with a wide variety of materials as wood, gold, silver, ivory and coral, but today you can also find more prosaic plastic cribs of industrial production.

In several small villages of inland Sicily you may also find the so-called “living cribs”, that is cribs acted by local inhabitants arrayed in typical costumes. In Sutera (Caltanissetta), for example, in the magic maze of Rabato quarter, a group of locals commemorates Christmas mystery among narrow lanes and arab-like courtyards. In Agira (Enna), the re-enactment of Nativity scenes is accompanied by carols, music and recitations of poems. In Scurati; near Custonaci (Trapani) the staging of a living crib in the prehistoric cave called Mangiapane follows ancient customs and usages from XIX century. Giarratana’s (Ragusa) living crib is set in about thirty little houses, where country life of past centuries is evoked in detail. Ancient workshops and jobs, as the pasta maker or the stone-mason, are brought back to life along the streets leading to the market, and the whole display creates a spectacular nostalgic atmosphere.

Christmas time is also the occasion to celebrate Sicilian culinary heritage. A large number of recipes make this time of the year an unmissable oocasion to taste delicious dishes, where both high quality ingredients and Sicilian cooking traditions excel. Besides “sfincione”, sort of pizza dough covered with tomato sauce, onions, salted sardines, grated “caciocavallo” cheese, breadcrumbs and olive oil, Sicily offers a wide variety of pastries and cookies: “cobaita”, to mention one, is a sort of nougat made with honey and seeds of sesame, or walnuts and almonds; “nugatoli” are cookies stuffed with chopped almonds, chopped pistachios and cinnamon; “cosi chini”, pastries stuffed with dried figs and almonds; “buccellati”, pastries stuffed with dried figs, raisins, almonds, walnuts, pine seeds, sugar and candied orange peel, and last but not least the traditional nougat.

A large number of moving and colorful ceremonies take place in the Holy Week, before Easter Sunday.

On Palm Sunday, the re-enactment of Christ’s Via Crucis in Buseto Palizzolo (Trapani) attracts many devotees and tourists. It is a splendid procession where sixteen groups of actors in a touching costume pageant evoke episodes of Jesus’ Passion.

On Holy Thursday, a sacred procession in Marsala (Trapani) re-enacts the Mysteries of Jesus’ Passion with nine living pictures, from Last Supper to Ascent to Calvary.

Trapani and Caltanissetta are likewise famous for their Mysteries, spectacular and solemn processions of precious and antique statues dating back to centuries ago. Around the XVII century, different categories of craftsmen, eager to show their own social and economic success to their fellow townsmen, commissioned the production of wooden statues to local artists, later decorated and ornated with jewels and precious ornaments. In the course of time, the task to sponsor sacred processions and maintain these precious statues has been handed over to religious confraternities.

On Holy Thursday, the town of Barcellona-Pozzo di Gotto (Messina) perpetuates the ritual of feet washing among the devotees: priests from the town parishes wash the feet of twelve men, symbolizing the Apostles. Then, the devotees walk on a short pilgrimage to other churches in the town, and pray in front of tabernacles. On Good Friday, twenty statues – made of wood and papier-mâché - are carried in procession through the town streets. During the procession, statues from near Pozzo di Grotto join the pageant, symbolizing the union of the two old villages.

In Piana degli Albanesi (Palermo), where five of the eight Albanian communities in Sicily live harmoniously with the Sicilians, the ceremonies on Easter Sunday are only the culmination of a number of rituals held during the whole Holy Week. Since the population of Piana is of Greek Orthodox faith, religious celebrations follow the Greek rituals, and begin a number of traditional songs called “lazeri”, performed by a chorus of young singers leaded by the priest or “papas”, and commemorating Lazarus’ resurrection. On Palm Sunday, the Bishop enters the village on horseback, holding a palm branch and a cross, but the climax is the re-enactment of the feet washing: the priestaccepts to be entirely washed by Jesus, as Saint Peter did. On Good Friday morning, villagers gather to sing traditional Easter songs narrating Jesus’ Passion and Death. In the afternoon, a procession carrying an effigy of Jesus follows a statue of Christ placed inside a glass case and adorned with flowers. On Holy Saturday, new members are initiated to Greek Orthodox faith by full immersion, the typical baptism ceremony in Greek-Orthodox liturgy, performed by a priest wearing white robes. Then the “papas” celebrates the liturgy of St. Basilio, and the whole community recites the Psalms of Resurrection.

Likewise, in Ribera and Burgio (Agrigento) Easter Sunday is the climax of intense celebrations held during the Holy Week: three statues representing the Virgin Mary, the Risen Christ and the Archangel Michael are carried through the town streets on a richly decorated pageant, and finally join up in the main square. According to tradition, this event symbolizes the joy for Christ’s resurrection. While approaching Jesus, the Virgin Mary loses her mantle, and Archangel Michael leaves the scene.

In Palermo the Holy week is particularly rich in events and ceremonies. All the city churches feature a re-enactment of Last Supper on Holy Thursday, thanks to the hard work carried out by young volunteers in every single parish. Nevertheless, the climax of Easter celebrations are four colorful processions taking place on Good Friday along the streets and lanes of the historical centre of Palermo. The first one is the procession of “Cocchieri” (coachmen), departing from Madonna dell’Itria Church in the early afternoon. Thirty-two participants take turns in carrying the case of Christ and the statue of Virgin Mary, escorted by people wearing antique medieval armors. The second procession is organized by the Baker’s Confraternity, and it’s dedicated to “Maria Addolorata”. A group of people dressed in handmade ancient Roman armors parades with the devotees. Their armors are made according to the ancient tradition of “pupari” (puppet masters). The pageant ends late at night with an impressive religious ceremony. The third procession, dedicated to “Maria della Soledad”, carries the wooden statues of Jesus Christ and “Maria Soledad” throughout the city. The fourth procession is organized by a group of craftsmen devoted to “Maria del Lume” (Madonna of the Light). They carry the simulacrum of Mary through the streets from their seat up to Teatro Massimo.

The structure of the ship-like cart carrying Rosalia’s relics has been modified through the centuries. Originally made of heavy beams and drawn by forty richly saddled mules (later replaced by oxen), its surface was entirely covered with paintings narrating significant episodes of the Saint’s life. It originally hosted not the Saints’s relics, but her effigy, on top, symbolizing the history of all mankind and the miraculous ending of the plague by intercession of the patron Saint. Nowadays the cart is about 9 m long, 6 m broad and about 10 m high. It carries forty people (musician and chorus) and hosts at its top both the statue of the Saint surrounded by clouds, cherubs and angels, and her relics. It is often preceded by minor carts called “macchinette”, representing scenes of the Saint’s life.

A few days before the feast, a large number of stalls begin to line up along the sea promenade, the so called “Foro Italico”, displaying all kinds of traditional cookies and sweets - symbolizing the local’s enthusiasm and joy for their patron Saint. Some stalls sell “calia e simienza” (roasted chick-peas and salted pumpkins seeds), “cruzzitieddi” (dried chestnuts), toasted nuts, almonds and pistachios, dried carobs, “favi atterrati”(roasted broad beans) and “quarara” (lupines soaked in salty water and kept in copper bowls). Others offer “sfincione” (sort of pizza dough covered with tomato sauce, onions, salted sardines, grated caciocavallo cheese, oregano and olive oil) placed on warm baking pans, and “sfincionelli”, smaller “sfincioni”, heaped up in small piles and sold by the piece.

The stalls of the so-called “turrunari”(nougat-makers) are of course likewise present. There, a wide variety of traditional nougats is displayed: the “cubaita”, which is made with sugar, quickly shoveled on a marble slab while still warm and, once hardened into a solid chunk, sliced with a big knife; the “mandorlata” (made with almonds), the “nocciolata”(made with hazelnuts) and the delicious “gelato di campagna” (very similar to soft nougat and colored in green, white and red), made with sugar, pistachios and natural dye. Its recipe has been handed down through generations and it is still a pièce de résistance of the Sicilian culinary tradition.

Saint Rosalia’s Feast is one of Palermitans’ favourite occasion to taste their original “focaccia” or “pani ca’ meusa” (beef spleen stuffed into bread). Its preparation is almost a ritual: beef spleen and lungs are sautéed in copper vats together with lard (“saimi”), put into round rolls with measured and repeated gestures, covered with slices of lung, offal (“scannaruzzato”) and then squeezed. The so-called “focaccia” is called “schietta” when sprinkled with only grated caciocavallo cheese, and “maritata”, when caciocavallo is accompanied by a slab of fresh ricotta.

Other street stalls display typical Sicilian fruits like watermelon and cantaloup slices, but major protagonists of these fruit stalls are the multicoloured prickly pears, displayed in tubs and covered with cool water in order to remove thorns. The prickly pear stallholder picks the pear, cuts off both ends using a sharp knife, and makes incisions lengthwise down the fruit to peel it and show its colorful pulp.

At fish stalls the “purparu” invites to taste its seafood specialities (boiled and steamed mussels, oysters and sea-urchins) richly bathed in lemon and accompanied with bread. Octopuses are served boiled on the spot, cut into small pieces and spread on bright plates well arranged on the counter. One famous saying recites “unn ‘è fistino senza i babbaluci e u’ muluni” (you cannot miss snails and watermelon if you want to enjoy the Feast). Snails are a very delicious and popular dish. They are usually boiled with salt and served bare with oil, garlic and parsley, or in the version “a’ picchi pacchi” with tomato sauce, onion and black pepper. As for the melons, the stallholders can tell whether they are ripe or not just thumping the red watermelon with a knuckle. Melons are cut into slices and eaten while looking at the fireworks. As the saying goes, “ manci, vivi e ti lavi a facci” (with this fruit you can eat, drink and have your face washed, because you have to bury your face in it).

Ice-cream is naturally the main attraction, with its wide variety of flavours and colors. It is served on cones or in cups in the many “gelaterie” along Foro Italico. The most popular flavours are “gelsomino” (jasmine), “scorzonera” (black salsify), “cannella” (cinnamon), “anguria” (watermelon), “gelsi” (mulberries) and “fichi d’india” (prickly pears). The outstanding coffee with cream is a must on this occasion.

The Saint’s dies natali is celebrated on September 4th with a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Saint Rosalia on Monte Pellegrino, where she spent Her life in solitude, prayers and works of penance. It is also an occasion to visit Saint Rosalia’s Chapel in the Cathedral to admire a splendid statue of the Saint. According to traditional iconography, the Saint is represented as a young woman, with a crown of white roses on Her head, praying in front of a Crucifix. According to tradition, Rosalia decided to devote Herself to contemplation of Christ after seeing Jesus Crucified reflected in a mirror.