One more festa

Life is a mystery, as Madonna tells us, and so is the meaning of some of the odder (to me) aspects of Italian ritual. Everyone in Montagano was very excited that we would be around for the Feast of the Mysteries in Campobasso on Sunday, June 18, and urged us to get into town to see this famous procession. Danny had already put it high on his to-do list after seeing videos online of this only-in-Campobasso procession.

Dating from the early 18th century, the festa celebrates the feast of Corpus Domini and centers on a procession of thirteen floats, each depicting one of the "mysteries" of the church, though what exactly constitutes a mystery is itself a bit mysterious. Where most festa processions include statues of the saints carried aloft, what makes the Festa dei Misteri so special is that here the "statues" are living people, mostly children, strapped to iron structures two stories high and dressed as angels, saints, and devils.

To the right is the mystery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. I think the little boy in the beard up top is supposed to be God.

Danny says these floats remind him of the Laguna Art Festival and its tableau-vivants of famous paintings.


The Campobasso festa's elaborately decorated, and no doubt terrifically heavy, structures are carried by teams of a dozen or more sturdy men in white tunics, who march along to a rhythm that makes the little angels and saints jump and judder in a most alarming way.










The fact that it was pretty windy on Sunday probably didn't help matters.

In the older parts of the city, where the streets are narrow, people lean out of windows and balconies on the upper stories and give the children in the floats candy and drinks of water to keep them going. Later, Maria told us that they have "rehearsals" throughout the year to get the kids used to being bounced around. The ones that cry or get scared are cut from the cast.

The most popular part of the procession is, no question, the devils. Children and young women lined up to have some of the devils' black paint smeared on their own faces, perhaps for luck. Why Satan is the best-loved character in this array is yet another mystery.

This float is about San Antonio. The devil is trying to get the young lady at the bottom to smile; if she does, she'll go to hell. No one could explain to me what exactly that has to do with either Catholic theology or St. Anthony, though.













When we got back to Montagano, we discovered that our little town was celebrating Corpus Domini in its own, much less spectacular way. I heard the sound of voices singing a hymn and when I looked out the window, I saw a modest procession heading up the street to the church. Evidently quite a few of the faithful decided to skip the parking problems and the crowds and celebrate the occasion here at home.

Later that day Maria asked if we'd gone to the "Misteri" and was pleased that we had. "Isn't it beautiful?" she said. "It's...beautiful and strange," I answered. "Were you there?"

Well, no. The only time she'd ever gone to the Misteri was many years ago, when she was pregnant with her first child. She'd hated the crowds and felt sick, so she'd left and gone back to Montagano. Ever since then, she told me, she stays home and watches the procession on TV.