Santuario SS. Crocifisso English > News > Grotteria > Easter Rites in Grotteria

Since immemorial times, even Grotteria maintains and preserves the ancient religious traditions related to Easter. Since IV Century, Lent, the 40 day penitential period between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, was represented in Grotteria by a small rag doll dressed in black, holding in its hand a wool or linen rock on which, in a stuffed ball or in an orange, were skewered 6 hen feathers; every week, to mark time for prayers and meditation, one was taken away, pulling off the last one on Holy Thursday, day that marks the end of Lent.
This unusual calendar, whose name was 'Corajìsima', was hung on the balconies of the houses. The Fridays of Lent, even nowadays the priest celebrates the Holy Mass in the Sanctuary of SS Crocifisso, that remains traditional destination for many faithful who, both from the near hamlets and from the neighboring villages, come to participate, and, outside the Sanctuary they can enjoy a small street market offering, since centuries, the very first vegetable garden plants, fresh or dried vegetables and legumes, crafts and sweets.
On Palm Sunday, also in Grotteria, since always, it is current tradition the Blessing of palm and olive branches. Very peculiar indeed  is the  craftsmanship of the palm, which is cleverly woven into shapes (such as crosses, little donkeys, baskets and bunches) reminding scenes of Jesus life, related to the Holy Week and to typical Christian iconography, that will be hung, together with the olive branches, in the houses of faithfuls, as symbol of peace. Their blessing is nowadays celebrated, after a short procession, in the open space on the side of the Sanctuary of SS.  Crocifisso (where in the past there was the ancient monastery church) near which there are the crosses of Calvary.
Of a certain value is the manufacture of the central cross, realized in  iron by a local craftsman, with details that reminds the passion of Christ. During the Holy Week, it is still custom to have the houses of faithful blessed by the priest, to whom, even now, often the devotees donate eggs, as ancient symbol of life origin, since always associated, according to Christian culture, to spring and rebirth.
Holy Thursday marked the beginning of the ritual that leaded to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; at midday, in the Chiesa Matrice, was celebrated the 'Chiamata della Madonna' (The call of the Holy Lady), during which the statue of the Crocifisso were given to his mother.
In  the previous months, women sowed chickpeas, lupins, maize and wheat in pots or small containers, having them to germinate in the dark; during this day, in all the village churches people cared the preparation of the 'Sepolcri' (graves – in dialect 'Sumburchi'), that were decorated with particular blossomings, in a real scenographic competition between the various churches;
After the vesper, once the celebration of the Last Supper ritual (that was called 'Missa a Storta' because it was announced by the ring of a bell  and ended with a bell stroke) was finished, all the crosses inside the churches were covered, as sign of mourning, with a dark cloth, thus beginning the visitation of  'Sepolcri' that lasted the whole night and the Holy Friday morning.
The custom to prepare the 'Sumburchi' is still nowadays maintained and very alive and felt,  perpetuating the artistic decorations of the past, even now well visible in the church of 'San Nicola de’ Francò'. During the Holy Friday, many were the women that worn the dark dress like the 'Madonna Addolorata'(Our Lady of Sorrows), so taking part in the evening  to the  sad rite of 'Via Crucis', that went through, in procession, the main village streets,  accompanying the Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows in the dim light of rudimental torches made of of long-stemmed plants soaked in oil and called 'varavaschi'.
Until some decades ago, the Via Crucis was characterized by manifestations of faith, even bloody; the big heavy wooden cross, only after the award of an auction, that sometimes left even violent aftermaths between the competitors, was dragged to shoulder by the winner, with painful consequences, for the entire duration of the journey, while others faithfuls  inflicted themselves to blood lashes  with scourges called 'acciprini'.
The Holy Saturday morning, the dead Christ in the 'sepolcro', together with 'Our Lady of Sorrows',  was carried to shoulder in procession by the women of the village. The Holy Saturday evening, after a long ceremony, full of symbolic meanings, such as the blessing of water and fire and the renunciation of evil,  Christ resurrects from the darkness, while the bells 'exploded' in the joyful  sound of the Gloria.
In the past times, when Grotteria was the capital of a county, whose borders (in the XVI century) arrived even until the most distant ends of Aspromonte, the sound of the Gloria from the Chiesa Matrice was announced in the other possessions with a cannon stroke, shot from the feudal castle and repeated with another stroke from S. Giorgio Morgeto, to reach the most far communities, thus giving the signal that it was allowed to start the festivities of the Holy Easter
On Easter Sunday, at the end of the morning solemn celebration, finally it took place the so much waited procession 'Cumpruntata' (probably of Spanish origins), the  most waited and emotionally felt from our people, event that even now counts on a wide participation and that is repeated in several neighboring villages, perhaps in memory of the ancient identity.
This particular procession celebrates, according to a well precise ceremonial, the meeting of Holy Mary with her son, in the day of his resurrection: the Statue of the Christ Resurrected  goes out in procession from the Chiesa Matrice and goes through the main street towards the Church of San Domenico, while the statue of St John Evangelist, brought to shoulder by the village youth (and always kneeing down in front of the Redeemer), litterally runs between the joyful procession and San Domenico, where the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary, still dressed with a dark veil, for three times receives in disbelief the good news brought by the beloved Disciple; after the third meeting, the Christ Resurrected arrives in front of His Holy Mother, and here there is the most touching moment of this theatrical representation (‘u sbelu’) when the Virgin loses her veil of mourning and shines in a victorious blue mantle.
Nowadays the procession takes place after the evening Mass. Formerly, during the procession, children brought in their hands a typical biscuit (that could have several and meaningful shape, according to the fantasy and expertise of the good cooks that created it) with an hardboiled egg in the center; this sweet, a poor version of the commercial chocolate egg, is the symbol of resurrection and life, and it’s called 'sguta', according to a dialect contraction of the expression 'ex voto'. After 'u sbelu' (take away the veil of mourning), the biscuit was then destined to close the Easter lunch, at the end of the procession that accompanied the Saints back in the Chiesa Matrice, singing:
Oh chi bellu jornu è chistu                                   (oh what a beautiful day is this day)
Chi camina Gesù Cristu                                   (that Jesus Christ is walking)
Oh ch’è bella sta jornata                                    (oh what a beautiful day is this day)
Chi Maria fu cunsulata                                    (that the Holy Mary was consoled)
Cunsulata a tutti l’uri                          (consoled at all the hours)
Risurgìu nostru Signuri.                 (Our Lord is risen)

Article of the Pro Loco Grotteria

English translation by Silvia