2011-01-06
Epiphany Celebration
For a crazy, semi-pagan Epiphany Celebration, visit Tarcento in Friuli, where old storytellers spin their yarns through the night, sitting around sacrificial bonfires. This mysterious and fantastically atmospheric ritual has been performed for centuries.
The origins of the bonfires, the Pignarûi or Palavins in local language, can be traced back to the ancient pagan god of fire and light. By one particular bonfire sits the Vieli venerand,
or venerating old man, a symbolic figure surrounded by children. He
recounts year after year the same story of the investiture, around 1290,
of the noble Artico of Castel Porpetto at the hands of the revered
patriarch of Aquileia, Raymond of Torre Valsassina.
He then
narrates the legend of the Wise Men before exhorting his companions to
reenact the traditional rites of the Epiphany Celebration. The children
follow him to the top of the Coia hill, where the Pignarûl Grant,
or great bonfire, is lit, serving as the signal for all the other minor
bonfires around the area to be lit too. From the direction the smoke of
the bonfire takes, predictions are made about the fortunes of the
region in the coming year.
When: 5 - 6 Jan 2011
Where: Tarcento, Italy
From: whatsonwhen.com
last modification: 2010-12-15
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