The Feast of St. Rocco, Gioiosa Ionica, Italy

As I wrote in my last blog post--click here--my husband's hometown of Gioiosa Ionica, in Calabria, Italy, celebrates the Feast of Saint Rocco, which is officially August16th, but celebrated in this town on the last Sunday of August. Saint Rocco is venerated by the Roman Catholic Church as the protector against plague and contagious diseases.  Saint Rocco (also referred to as St. Roch) was born around 1340 in Montpellier, France, and performed many healing miracles throughout his life. To read more about him click here and here.   (All photos and photo collages in this post will enlarge if clicked on)

We visited the early 17th-century Church of Saint Rocco a day before the feast. Inside we saw the statue of the saint that would be paraded through the town and to three churches on his feast day in great celebration and fanfare. The wooden statue was carved in Naples in 1749, and transported to the town by ship. Thousands of people return to Gioiosa Ionica for the event, and we were excited to be here to see it. The Feast of Saint Rocco in Gioiosa Ionica dates back to at least 1583. He became the patron saint of the town in 1743 when a bubonic plague outbreak miraculously ceased when prayers to St. Rocco intervened.

 

For an entire week before the feast day, the entire town of Gioiosa Ionica is lit with festival lights. There are carnival rides and musical concerts in the squares all week long. Long processions of drummers march through the town for many hours during the day and in the evening, drumming a fast rhythm. It is a long tradition and a form of devotion. Tourists and locals from adjoining towns begin to gather in the town until there are thousands of people in attendance on the last day of the festival.

Vendors come from many miles away and set up booths along the main streets where all kinds of fruits and vegetables, condiments, candies, nuts, dried beans, meats, ceramics, toys, and kitchenware are sold. A sense of anticipation and joy builds and builds as the week progresses closer to the upcoming procession of the statue of Saint Rocco through the town on his feast day celebration.

Finally, the big day arrives! My husband and I watch as the statue of Saint Rocco is carried out of the Church of Saint Rocco and paraded to two other churches throughout the town. Masses are said at each church, and the procession of the statue lasts most of the day.

 The Facebook video above shows the statue being carried and a pause in one of the town piazzas, with the sound of the drums playing all around it. Click here to view it on my Mille Fiori Favoriti Facebook page if you can't see it or hear the sound here, 

There is great devotion to Gioiosa Ionica's patron Saint Rocco year round, but the constant sound of drums, the large crowds, and the groups of people celebrating by dancing the tarantella is thrilling to experience in person on the feast day.

We also saw a musician playing a traditional zampogna, a bagpipe-type instrument played in Southern Italy. This one was made out of goatskin. If you'd like to hear how this sounds--click here to view the video on my Mille Fiori Facebook page. 

As the feast day celebration progressed, my husband and I returned to our bed and breakfast room to watch the procession of the statue from our balcony. In the collage above you can see some of the vendor booths lining the street, and the large crowds all the way to the end of the town, where the procession ends.  
This was such an exciting day for my husband, as he has not been able to participate in this feast day celebration since his youth. He was especially happy that I was there to witness it, along with many of his other relatives who were in Gioiosa Ionica for the week.

After the statue is returned to the Church of Saint Rocco, the festival ends with a firework show for almost 45 minutes. We watched the fireworks from our balcony, enjoying the end of a wonderful and memorable day.

We visited a few other towns in Calabria during our visit and I will be showing them in future blog posts. We also flew north to Genoa, Italy, to visit family and toured not only Genoa but also Verona, Padua, and Bologna. Many stories, photos, and videos are to come!