26 January 2011

Festa di Sant'Antonio Abate


Dancin' in the streets

January 17 is the feast day of Sant’Antonio Abate, a favorite amongst those who raise and love animals. This is also a big festa for Lucanella. Before we left for the holidays  everyone kept telling us we had to be back in time for la festa.

Saturday the 15th was the day it was celebrated here and this meant a HUGE bonfire was assembled in the main piazza. Several days were required to collect the trees from the nearby forest and assemble the bonfire. Two smaller ones were built in a second piazza and in front of la Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate.

In addition to the warm fires there was of course, plenty of local food to taste, music to dance to and wine to drink. Costumed dancers from nearby Tricarico came to prance around the fire and also up and down the streets. It was a good time to enjoy the clear weather and to see our friends and make new friends.

With the Tricarico dancers

5 comments:

erin said...

i just love these unique festivals....that photo of you guys is great! :)

Bryan said...

Erin - Thanks. Those cow bells are huge and sure make a racket.

Anonymous said...

Bryan, grazie mille for your wonderful Blog. I find that at times, when I'm somewhat down, I go to your blog and it always raises my spirit and escorts me to Bella Italia. le foto sono belle! Una domanda: Does learning L'italiano really become easier once you're living there? I've been studying for 3 years now and it just seems like I'll never rise above basic level. And the conjugations are brutal :) I'm just curious from your experience & perspectives. I hope & pray when I finally land in Orbetello that la gente will be patient with my language skills. God Bless! Giovanni

Bryan said...

Giovanni - If you are in a town like ours where no one speaks English your have no choice but to use Italian and inevitably your language skills will improve.

Keep studying as that will give you a good base to work with. Using a language and studying at can be two different things. Keep at it!

South_Italy said...

www.lemaschereditricarico.it
Enjoy! ;-)