Easter Sunday in Sardinia

The Sardinian Easter calendar is unusual for a northern Catholic. On Good Friday there is no Passion, only an evening Deposition from the Cross. On Holy Saturday there is nothing at all, only wainting, and on Easter Sunday morning there is the meeting between the risen Christ and His mother, which takes place in the main square of every village and town.

The ceremony of the meeting, s’incontru, is perhaps most traditionally celebrated in Oliena, which I wrote about exactly seven years ago. The background atmosphere and noise is provided by the descendants of the bandits of Oliena, who stand on the rooftops from erly morning, and shoot blanks. You can see in this the evil-chasing noise of Carnival, or the framing of the men as courageous followers of Christ, but perhaps most of all a phallic fertility magic. An interesting change (because tradition changes, too) is that while seven years ago they would shoot from every rooftop and balcony in the entire village to emphasize the authority of each clan, today this is limited to the loggia of the Church of Mary in the main square, so it has become a purely community event specifically organized in honor of s’incontru. 

The statue of Mary spent the time between the deposition from the cross and Sunday morning in the church of St. Francis, and that of Jesus in the church of the Holy Cross, from where they will carry it to the meeting after ten in the morning. We infiltrate the church of the Holy Cross, where the boys and girls in traditional costumes who will make up the procession are dancing. Seven years ago they sang four-part Sardinian songs as a preparation. Today they just offer cakes around and adjust each other’s attire before the big event.

Our procession arrives at the corner of the main square before that of Mary. We stop and wait.

Finally, the procession of Marry appears at the far corner of the long square. It enters the square without stopping, since she must welcome there the risen Christ. Our procession also starts. As she enters the carpet of blooming wild lavender that has already been spread on the main square, the men and women in traditional costumes standing in line on both sides also join behind her to be the first witnesses of the meeting between mother and son. The bell is rung in the tower of the Mary Church. The bandits are firing their guns.

Then the whole community marches in two lines to the former Jesuit church of St. Ignatius, where the festive mass began at the ringing of the bells during the meeting.

It is interesting that there are hardly any believers in traditional costume at the mass. They have to show off outside. Those wearing traditional dress are dispersed on the street of the church and the nearby Aldo Moro square, greeting each other, toasting each other in and outside the bars, petting each other’s children, posing to and taking photos, marveling at the beauty of each other and themselves. And they are happy for the strangers taking their photo, and say thanks with a sincere smile. The children also practice this in a natural way. No one turns away from the camera, everyone takes it for grantd that in this costume they have to represent the common identity. From individuals, they become components of a jointly created ritual spectacle. Together they display and reinforce the traditional identity and cohesion of the village for themselves and the outside observer.

As the mass ends, the women begin to offer cakes and wine to everyone present. A girl with an accordion sits down on the Berlinguer square, and the round dance begins. Gradually everyone joins it, whether in traditional costume or not. This round dance is so important to traditional Sardinian communities that they had also arranged their thousand-year-old menhirs in this shape and presumable danced around them in this way to experience communion with the dead.

Around lunchtime, the community begins to disperse. As they walk through the main square, each takes with them a bouquet of the wild lavender with the footprints of Mary and Jesus on them.