A visit to a little mountain town in mid January – the festival of Saint Antonio and, unbeknownst to me, the beginning of the Sardinian carnival. To the ignorant traveller, it has hints to something that looks more like worshipping of another kind than anything related to a celebration on a catholic island
Here I was, on a cold and grey Saturday afternoon at the end of January, waiting patiently on the sidewalk along the main street in a sleepy mountain town. A very clean and tidy looking town it seems. I was waiting together with a small group of people, it was not really busy.
The air of the town was quiet and calm. Adding to my thinking that a celebration of a Saint must be a solemn affair. Maybe just some people walking past in a calm procession. It turned out I was totally wrong. Not sure why I thought it would be a calm procession, but it probably had something to do with this being a celebration of a saint, Saint Antonio, the saint for fire and animals.
The slow burning olive tree trunk in a fire outside the church was slowly turning to embers. The light wind made the ashes flow down on us as snow flakes in the calm air.
Start of the Sardinian carnival
Little did I know that together with the celebration of Saint Antonio (17th January) this was also the start of the carnival season which is celebrated in January, February and early March (until Lent starts). Sardinia has a long and ancient tradition of different festivals and carnivals. All with slightly different costumes, masks and figures depending on the region. Some of these figures are both scary and otherworldly
The first sign of activity was cheerful, but intense, honking and a whirring motor sound. As this drew closer it turned out to be a tractor pulling a hanger with a tree trunk on the back. Decorated with a long string of oranges (this is the orange season after all) and some long reeds. Also on the hanger scrambling for a place among the reeds and the trunks where some cheerful (drunk?) men swinging large plastic bottles with a red liquid (presumably red wine).
The tractor stopped for a moment on the edge of the town square. Then a few minutes later another tractor came, with the same honking and cheerful passengers and load. And a few minutes later yet another. After some scrambling around the town square they made their slow and noisy way down a street to a place I assumed would be the place suited for a big fire to burn these tree trunks and celebrate the saint of fire.
Cheerful music followed by strange characters
The next thing that happened was that a small band came marching, playing traditional music on drums, accordions, flutes and triangles. All of them dressed in black. ‘This is rather cute and cheerful’ thought the Norwegian. But from there on it all became a little strange.
After the band, a bunch of characters came running down the street with lots of racket. Mainly made of shouts and the goat bells attached to their attire. These guys did not look particularly friendly and my Norwegian eyes opened wide. Totally black, black faces and hands, black boots and a long black ‘skirt’ and a black shawl. On their heads was a black cap covered by a black scarf tied under their chins. Around their torsos were rows of big (presumably goat, maybe cow) bells. They were all carrying long staffs, some staffs had several pointy ends, some with a black painted goat skull on them and some with long goat horns at the end making them look more like a spear.
Later I found out these were the Sos Tintinnatos (see info below)
Unruly procession and dead goats
At this point there was no line of people lining the streets watching the procession. We seemed to be IN the middle of the procession instead. There were other wild looking characters following on from the Sos tintinnatos, jumping around everywhere, beating each other with sticks, black faces, black clothes. Wrapped in dead goats’ heads and long horns and fur.
Characters with a whole goat head with horns and fur and all on them. One poor guy was dressed in the skin and full head of a boar, the others bashing this poor creature with their sticks, chasing him and beating him to the ground (S’urtzu e sos bardianos – see info below)
Rattling sea shells and conch blowing
Another group looked more serene dressed in white. Top to toe in white sheep skins and rows upon rows with shells wrapped around themselves. With a goat horn in their foreheads like a unicorn. Blowing into a large conch.
The onlookers were kind of whisked into this frenzy, a chaotic mix of characters and shouting and ringing of goat bells.
At one point my leg was pulled by a boar like creature, a guy crawling on the ground trying to escape those chasing him and beating him with sticks. Like a lost child I looked panicky around for a second for my Sardinian friends. Luckily I saw Sardinian man’s tall figure smiling calmly back at me over the crazy crowd.
The bonfire of Saint Antonio
We were now part of the unruly procession and followed along the windy streets until a large open space in front of the cemetery. Here the tree trunks carried by the tractors were now burning lively in a huge bonfire. The crazy group of animal/people characters were swarming around this large fire. Again giving me an association of a rather different kind of celebration. One where fire, dead goats, bells and pointy sticks with goat skulls and dark characters speaks of a different kind of worshipping.
As the fire burned the air was filled with ashes raining down as snow. Falling down to the sounds of the lively, tingling traditional music. As this happened a calmer and more relaxed atmosphere settled.
Calmness settled with cheerful music
The locals were busy chatting and tucking in to more red wine. Together with the traditional sweets (torrone) sold by the vendors taking advantage of this bustling event. The feeling of the place was now more of a village fair than a scary, ancient ritual. The Norwegian could breath easily again.
It was time for us to leave for a long drive back to our own corner of Sardinia. I had many strange impressions to digest. I can safely say it is one of the strangest experiences I have ever had. If anyone has the chance to experience the traditional local carnival in a sleepy Sardinian town I highly recommend it. Be prepared to be astonished.
The costumes and characters:
After this; to a foreigner; bizarre spectacle, I did manage to find out the following about the characters in this particular carnival – bearing in mind that the origin seems to be so ancient nobody really knows the full background about:
Sos tintinnatos: Black clothes, black faces painted with soot (su thithieddu), rows of bells across their torso and carrying a long, pointy stick, with goat skulls or goat’s horn. Among other things they represent man’s struggle against nature, to please the deities to make the fields fertile and obtain good crops. It is also thought that they represent/are inspired by Dionysus, the god of ecstasy, of wine, of intoxication.
Sos cotzulados: White sheep/goat skin with rows of sea shells, face painted ochre, blowing into a large conch. I have not been able to find the symbolism of this character. Nobody seems to know. Other than that shells are associated with fertility. The horn in their head probably represents the Cornucopia, the horn of abundance
S’urtzu e sos bardianos: Represents the relationship between man and animals. The fight between human figures and animals. The S’urtzu is the sacrificial victim (the boar)
Saint Antonio: the saint of fire. According to a Sardinian legend he walked to hell with his little pig to get fire for people before they had any. Other sources say he was tormented but defeated the Devil and the flames of hell and therefore is associated with fire.
The Sacred well of Pozzo di Santa Cristina is very close to Paulilatino
https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en/mysterious-beauty-carnival-sardinia
Not too par from Paulilatino is Laconi and Aymerich park, well worth a visit
Lots of love,
Bee