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Celebrations and traditions |
Very often linked to religious celebrations, Bergamo hosts many folklore events, when people get together and enjoy what the area offers.
In Bergamo, starting from 26th August each year, the important St Alexander Fair is held, while a few days earlier the ancient burgh of Santa Caterina – St Catherine - has its own celebrations. St Alexander is the patron saint of Bergamo and is remembered by many initiatives: religious, theatrical and gastronomic.
In December Bergamo holds its traditional Christmas markets and stalls are set up in the city centre to celebrate Santa Lucia – St Lucy. She is supposed to bring gifts to children who take letters to the Church of Santa Lucia expressing their particular wishes. This time of year is particularly atmospheric, full of bright lights and sounds.
Carnival too is an important time, a time of high spirits and fun. With both children and adults dressed in every type of costume, and a mid-Lent procession of decorated floats, celebrations end with the Rogo della Vecchia – or Burning of the Old Lady – with an effigy placed on a bonfire to symbolize the passing away of all the city’s problems for the past year.
By tradition Bergamo is closely linked to the commedia dell’arte. Gli Zanni are the forefathers of well-known characters like Harlequin, the Bergamasque servant, and Giopì and Margì, important male and female characters in local marionette theatres.
Religious faith and tradition: visitors never fail to be surprised by what Bergamo offers.
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Video: Faith and traditions in Bergamo and local area |
The Sacred Thorn of San Giovanni Bianco
The feast day celebrated in San Giovanni Bianco in the Brembana Valley, on Passion Sunday, two weeks before Easter, is part of a very old religious tradition. The parish church houses the relic of the Sacred Thorn worn in 1495 by the knight Vistallo Pignoni in San Giovanni Bianco after the battle of Fornivo sul Taro, in which he took part. Each year a large crowd attends the festival, during which the relic is carried in a procession through the town. Bonfires are lit on the evening before the festival, a firework display is held, and thousand of candles are lit outside the houses.
The Festival of Candles of Almenno San Salvatore
The traditional “Festa della candelora” (Festival of the Candles held on 2 February makes you feel like you have stepped back in time. This ancient ritual in the sanctuary of the Madonna del Castello (Madonna of the Castle), in Almenno San Salvatore, takes place each year and sees a large crowd of worshippers fill the church, where dozens of candles burn brightly. It is believed that the sanctuary was built on the site of a castle which, from above, watched over the river Brembo and the nearby “ponte della Regina” (Queen’s bridge), named after Teodolinda, the Lombard queen.
St. Lucy: the stalls as once
The enchanting tradition of Santa Lucia is connected to the period when Bergamo belonged to the Republic of Venice. Santa Lucia is particularly revered in Bergamo and, according to tradition, the saint goes from house to house bringing gifts for all good children on the eve before the feast day. On her long trip she is accompanied by a donkey carrying two large baskets filled with toys and sweets, which she hands out to the children. This tradition is upheld in the entire Veneto region and the part of Lombardy that was under the rule of Venice up to the river Adda, which marked the boundary with the State of Milan. Encouraged by their grandparents, mother or an aunt, children would leave hay and a bowl of water for the donkey; today only very young children continue this tradition, substituting the now hard-to-find hay with bread or a biscuit.
During the period of the Feast of Santa Lucia, the city centre of Bergamo becomes filled with stalls selling sweets and toys, which are visited by children who also stop at the church of Santa Lucia in nearby Via XX Settembre to leave a letter with their wish list of gifts. As evening falls, the stalls become ablaze with lights and the smell of hot roast chestnuts and candyfloss fills the air. It’s an event that even adults will not want to miss.
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