The comparanza feast is celebrated on June 24th in Maenza, the day dedicated to St. John the Baptist, with a procession and delivery of 'certificates of comparanza'.
St. John the Baptist is not only the patron saint of Florence, but also a very loyal saint who brooked no deceit. In many areas of Italy the expression is used "Saint John does not like deceit."
For centuries there was the custom of swearing allegiance on St. John's Day (June 24) by the exchange of a small bunch of flowers, reminder of the two faces of the florentine currency.
The Florentine florin, had a lily on one side and the figure of the saint on the other (also to protect the coins from counterfeiters).
On this day lovers swore eternal love, but also the 'godparents' and ‘witnesses’ from which the word 'cumparanze' comes.
The saint had the task of punishing those who showed less commitment.
The ‘compari’ could be both the godparents of baptism or wedding witnesses, but the ‘comparanza’ was not reserved exclusively to them.
In the traditional ceremony also called 'sangiuvanne' in honour of the saint, the person who seeks the bond hands a bouquet of flowers to the other person who then has a few days to answer to the request.
The time allowed was fundamental right to sanction the importance of the decision that had to be taken.
The acceptance of the request was confirmed with another bunch of flowers returned to the ‘applicant’ on June 29, the day dedicated to St. Peter.
For this the people involved in this rite call each other ‘compare’ (or cummare) of the flowers.
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