Festa di St. Agata

Holy Moly!

I wish I could fully explain to you what I witnessed yesterday, but I honestly have no idea. Clay and I headed to Catania for La Festa di Sant'Agata. Saint Agata is the patron saint of Catania. The festival is actually a three-day affair, but since Catania is about an hour bus ride away, we could only make it yesterday for the procession through the city with St. Agata. Let's begin at the very beginning, a very good place to start . . .

The bus from Taormina left at 2 p.m., but classes don't get out until 1:30 p.m., so we skipped lunch and headed straight to the bus station after school. We got there without an accident or a heart attack (it's amazing these large charter buses can turn the sharp curves in these mountains). By the time we got there, it was about 3 p.m. and we were famished. We began wandering the city looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, most of the ristorantes had been converted to cafes and bars for the festival. With so many people, it's really impossible for them to actually have a sit-down restaurant, but we really wanted to find a place where we could eat inside. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we saw a McDonalds. We decided we weren't that hungry yet, and we kept walking. After another 20 minutes of still not seeing anything but hot tables, and cafes, we headed back to McDonalds.

I'll be honest, a Big Mac has never tasted better. This McDonalds was weird - in the very front, they had a McCafe, where they only served coffee and gelato. The McDonalds only had about six meal choices, so I opted for the Big Mac grande (I was starved!) with fries and a Coke. We sat down and looked around to see what the Italians were eating. All the kids had Happy Meals, and really we could've been in America (except no one was speaking English). After finishing off every last bite of my meal, we started observing the nutrition facts (which I don't recall seeing printed as largely on the American meals). Anyways, my meal had about 1200 calories in it. I have never felt more American since I've been here until that moment when I ate 1200 calories in one sitting at a fast food restaurant. For some reason, everyone here knows McDonalds (which is worldwide), and they all think that all Americans eat at McDonalds like almost every day. We've had to explain that McDonalds is just as gross over here as it is in the states, and that most people don't eat there, especially not regularly. Unfortunately, no one will believe us now that we ate a McDonalds here. But I don't care - I was absolutely starved! Hopefully next time we return to Catania, the restaurants will be in full service again.

Anyways, after our meal, we stopped for gelato (ice cream - like I really needed it after that meal!). Then we claimed a spot on the Piazza Duomo (the main piazza) for the procession. My understanding (and I'm sure Dr. Summerfield will correct me if I'm wrong) is that on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, the silver carriage carrying St. Agata (or really the statue that looks like her) goes throughout the city. That is what we witnessed. Millions of people flock to Catania every year for the celebration. There were lots of people dressed in white robes with little black hats. I think this designates them as a follower, perhaps. Anyways, the people in white robes actually pulled the carriage - and it's an incredibly long rope used to pull the carriage. Everyone else has bought these giant candles, about 4 feet tall (although there are larger ones that are as wide as I am and come up to my shoulders). As the carriage passes by, they give their candles and white roses to the carriage.

The procession was supposed to begin at 5:30 p.m., but as usual, things here start late. We actually realized they were waiting for darkness to fall. Finally at 6 p.m., the church bells started really ringing, and everyone started clapping and waving white handkerchiefs. Then a huge fireworks show started - it easily rivaled shows I've seen on the 4th. When that was finished, the church bells kept ringing. Finally the darn carriage started moving. So we got excited, but then we realized that the carriage stopped about every 10 feet to collect the candles and roses the followers were giving to the saint. From where we were standing, we could see the carriage when it first began, so we weren't that far away. About 30 minutes later, the carriage finally reaches us.

Let me also note that there were easily 25,000 to 30,000 people in the piazza alone. Plus, there were tons of people lined up the streets, further up the procession route. Anyways, we were standing near this truck that had tons of candles in it, and when the carriage reached us, the truck made everyone clear a path so it could pull up to the carriage and take all the candles that had already been dedicated. We were already incredibly squished together. Thankfully the Italian men wear tight pants, so the clothing didn't take up unecessary room. I was easily right up against all sorts of strangers, and just when I thought I couldn't get any closer, the carriage arrived and stopped right in front of us. That's when the real pushing began. Everyone tried to push their way in so they could give their candle and roses to the carriage. If my stomach hadn't been full with 1200 calories from McDonalds, I'm positive I would have been squished down two pant sizes at least. So, people kept pushing up their candles and roses while the carriage unloaded the candles into the truck. Clay actually got passed up a candle and had the chance to keep passing it up. And one of the men on the carriage (there's about 5 or 6 men on the carriage who collect all these gifts) tossed out one of the bouquets of white roses, and I caught a rose.

After about 20 minutes of the mass chaos, one of the men rang a bell, and the carriage moved forward again, and everyone in our section started to clear out. I'm thankful we decided to stand where we did. Our bus left at 8 p.m., and it took the carriage about an hour to move 50 yards, so if we stood any farther away, we would've had to leave before we saw anything. My understanding is that the procession really goes on all through the night. And at some point, there's some beautiful singing. Unfortunately, we only got a glimpse of all this.

As a sidenote, they also lay sawdust down on the procession path - don't ask me why. Last night was a windy night here, so needless to say, I had sawdust all in my eyes!

We got to the bus station in plenty of time and had no problems getting home for a change. When I got home, I went up to see Aurelio and Angela, who had saved me a plate of food for dinner. I wasn't really hungry since I ate such a large, late lunch, but I felt bad that they had saved me food, so I ate a plate. I honestly thought at that point, I was going to pop. I was way too full, and even woke up full this morning.

I wish I could explain the festival a little better, but it's really beyond explanation. You just had to be there, and we were :)