Traditions of the Sicans
San Biagio Platani
and the big celebration
of the Easter Bows
Participating in the staging is
the whole village “divided”
into two historical factions
Say San Biagio Platani and you think Easter Arches. The Sican village identifies and is identified with this great creative happening that involves and, at the same time, “divides” all the inhabitants of the town.
Everyone, more or less, together passionately to create a sort of great ein plein air cathedral, made of bread, seeds, eggs, sugar, salt… and, again, almonds, ears of corn, dates, flowers and legumes. Simple ingredients at the origin of most of the decorations that pass on auspicious symbolism.
The 2025 edition of the Easter Arches will take place from Sunday, April 20 to June 8. But in the run-up to the event, again this year guided by the inhabitants themselves, people will be able to visit the workshops, called by the people of Sambia simply “warehouses,” which house the artists of the two confraternities of “Madunnara” and “Signurara.” Brotherhoods that, as one can easily guess from their names, are respectively devoted to the Virgin Mary and the resurrected Jesus.
A major collective artistic event, the Easter Arches of San Biagio Platani, population about three thousand in all, attract several thousand visitors each year from all over Sicily and beyond.
Behind the event, there are months of hard work, in absolute secrecy. Oh, yeah! Around here, one is careful so that the members of one fraternity don’t steal the ideas of the other, and vice versa.
But given the community spirit that animates the initiative, more than anything else, it seems to be just a game of sides.
An event not to be missed, then. An opportunity to get up close and personal with a unique tradition through a creative journey that can be enjoyed by all, combining artisan knowledge, myth, religious tradition and contemporary spirit.
The tradition of the Easter Arches in San Biagio Platani began in the second half of the seventeenth century, and already facing each other were the two confraternities of the “Madunnara” based in the Mother Church and the “Signurara” based in the Church of the Carmine, near the Calvary. It all stemmed from the idea of delineating in an artistic way the area where, on Easter Day, during the procession, the meeting between the Madonna and the risen Christ would take place, a very important moment that sanctions the triumph of life over death. The spirit of competition between the two confraternities would have done the rest, fueling the creativity of both factions and prompting them to confront each other in a kind of race to the top.
The scenic apparatus of the event refers to the triumphal arch, which in basilica architecture represents the limit, the threshold of passage from the nave to the transept, where the sacred rite takes place. The use of materials, on the other hand, refers to the awakening of nature in spring; and bread, the fruit of hard work in the fields, is the essential decorative element of the architecture of the festival.
Text by Editors
