Pastena. Feast of the "May"

Pagan and religious rites for the feast of “Il Maggio” which takes place between the end of April and the beginning of May in Pastena.

It is a complex folkloric ceremony that recalls the ancestral rites of Calendimaggio combined with the Christian feast of the Cross.

On the second Sunday in April, a special commission chooses the feast tree that is cut and brought to the village on May 30 to represent "May".

At this point the religious ceremonial enters and on the afternoon of April 30 the priest goes to the house of the 'feast master' and knocks 3 times with the cross.

The third time the priest says: “it is the Most Holy Cross that comes to visit you”.

On 1 May the tree is cleaned and raised in the square and decorated for the preparations of the greasy tree.

The procession of the two totems with the relic of the Cross of Christ is the culminating moment of the ceremony.

The feast ends with the raising of the tree and the ritual sacrifice of the animal.