Cammarata – 06 December
Patronal feast of St. Nicholas of Bari
Patronal feast of St. Nicholas of Bari — and “Acchiana Cola, scinni Maria.” In the town in the Agrigento area overlooking the Sicani Mountains, the feast dedicated to the patron saint is deeply felt, and the religious services held in the Mother Church dedicated to him are attended by many faithful.
Among other things, inside the matrix, it is possible to admire a wooden half-bust of the Bishop of Myra, which contains one of his relics. In Cammarata, devotion to St. Nicholas has ancient origins. According to tradition, around the year 1000, the archbishop of Bari, who came to the village on a visit to his niece, Countess Lucia, brought a relic of St. Nicholas’ body as a gift.
The saint’s remains, in fact, had been stolen in 1087 by sailors from Bari from Turkey, who brought them to the Apulian capital for safekeeping in the imposing purpose-built basilica.
The noble Lucia is credited with building Cammarata’s Mother Church dedicated to the patron saint, whose bust with the relic is carried in procession through the streets of the town on the feast day, accompanied by crowds of the faithful and members of the various confraternities. And since, sometimes, holidays are like cherries, one pulls the other, do you know what happens in Cammarata? As they say in these parts, “Acchiana Cola, scinni Maria,” meaning Nicholas goes up and Mary comes down, a way of saying that as soon as the saint, after the festivities are over, returns to his niche, there to come down on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is the simulacrum of Our Lady.
And the party continues.
