Casteltermini – end of May
Feast of the Holy Cross and Tataratá Festival
The history of this festival celebrated since 1667 and the festival to which it is connected is very fascinating and takes us back to the dawn of Christianity. The cross referred to, and which legend has it was found in the fields where the Hermitage of Santa Croce that guards it stands today, is one of the oldest testimonies to the presence of Christians in the Sicani Mountains and, more generally, may be the oldest cross in the world.
According tocarbon 14 testing, the oak wood from which it was made was cut around the year 12 AD. Very articulate is the Sagra del Tataratà, organized on the occasion of the festivities dedicated to the Holy Cross, with the participation of the four classes that anciently represented the citizenship: the Celibi, the Pecorai, the Borgesi and the Real Maestranza accompanied by their respective musical bands. Between solemn religious celebrations, processions, horseback parades, and period costumes, the whole village gets involved and engages the many participants who come from all over the surrounding area.
To the evocative sound of drums, the Moorish dance of the Tataratà accompanies the ancient cross twice around the village, before returning to the hermitage, in a fascinating crescendo that dies down only late at night.
