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ITALIAN AND APULIAN CULTURE Patron Saint Holidays
and Gastronomy Legends and Rituals Music
and Dance in Salentine Tradition Crypts and churches The megaliths are spread
all over the province and can probably be dated back to the Bronze Age,
they are therefore chronologically later than the analogous and impressive
megalith phenomenon which developed along the Atlantic coasts of Europe.
Menhir, dolmen and specchie (mounds) represent one of the most spectacular
and also most mysterious moments of old Salentine history placed as they
are between legend and supposition, in the mortifying absence of certainty. As the first civilised and
organised inhabitants of the area now occupied by |
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The
people of Lecce pour the best of their technical and artistic skills into
the preparations for the saints' feast days. On these spectacular occasions
the towns and villages come to life with decorations, coloured paper balls,
lights, fireworks and musical bands, which in turn are exported all over
the world. Some of the more important festivals include Sant'Oronzo in
Lecce (August 26); Sant'Anna at Vernole (July 26); the feast of the Assumption
at Martano (August 14); the processions to the sea in Otranto (1st
week-end September) and in San Foca (August 21), occasions on which the
true character of Salento comes to the surface. These festivals are characterised
by the special Salento flair for aesthetics, theatricality and the spectacular,
the ancient essence of this peninsula's culture that, despite all the
intervening social changes, has been preserved with the traditions over
the centuries. The atmosphere of the popular festival brings out the authentic
Salentine spirit, a blend of wisdom, wit, cordiality and irony.
Times like these are also the best occasions for sampling the products
of a unique cuisine: sweets, with strong Oriental flavours, such as fruttoni,
mostaccioli or copeta (almond and honey nougat); meat dishes such as roasted
lamb entrails, turcinelli delicacies of horsemeat with sauce, moniceddhi,
that is snails collected during the underground hibernation period, thus
still covered in a whitish secretion (mpannate). These and many more dishes
are served in the "putèe", the typical Salento restaurants
where the traditions of popular cuisine are preserved. The San Giuseppe
tables form part of another culinary tradition that is still alive in
villages such as Surano and Giurdignano. This devotional practice which
has been handed down within families entails days of preparation for a
speciai menu. The dishes are surprising: home-made spaghetti, cakes with
honey and accompanied with fried fish, a complex, dried salted cod sauce,
round bread rolls with mysterious insignia, pod-shaped honey cakes that
allude to ancient Egyptian divinities.
The
fascino (the word means charm) and the laùru are two examples of
the popular credences involving traditions, superstitions, or ritual practices,
most of which are connected to specific days. The fascino is the belief
in certain individuais' powers, often unknown to them, to provoke harm,
illnesses and deaths by way of a simple glance or by invocations cloaked
in well-wishing words. Children are often favourite fascino victims and
this explains why one should never say to a child: "What a lovely
child!", without adding immediately "Bless the child!",
maybe even with a hint of irony. The Iaùru concerns a type of imp
and its name derives from the laurel groves (laureti) where the little
spirit used to live. The laùru was given to visiting and even moving
into other people's homes, where by night it dedicated itself to disturbance
and vexation. Laùrus liked to clatter pots and saucepan lids, to
plait horses' manes, or to sit on the stomachs of sleeping people. One
story tells of a tormented soul who
was
driven to move house in an effort to free himself from the Iaùru.
He loaded his cart with all his household belongings and set off. When
he came to a fork in the road a passing acquaintance asked him, "Where
are you going, friend?". The answer came from a little voice at the
bottom of a saucepan that said, "We are moving house!" Religious
and mithological rituals that are common to all the Mediterranean cultures,
from the Greek to the Arab civilisations continue to survive in the festivals
Superstitions and Bonfires.
The
use of music and dance for both ceremonial and therapeutic purposes is
one of the distinctive features of this ancient culture, and probably
dates back to before the arrival of Greek influence. These arts are imbued
with rich iconographies that hark back to distant archetypal myths common
among many other Mediterranean civilisations.
Thus
the role of the small orchestra-the main instruments are the traditional
guitar, violin, mandolin and tambourine is all important. The band goes
to the victim's house and incites the bitten one to dance, sometimes for
days on end. Recourse to St. PauI is explained by Christianity's effort
to provide a substitute for the ancient pagan cult of serpents. The tarantula
might also represent a totemic animal whose origins are lost in the mists
of time, prior to the cult of Menadaism, Corybantism, or the Dionysiac
festivals which tarantanism evokes with its hedonist and frenzied traits.
The superb rhythmic music leads the victims towards their liberation,
with sounds that range from the gloomy to the poignant, culminating in
an extraordinary crescendo.
As
to the hermit-byzantine crypts, they are linked to the iconoclastic fight
sparked off by Leone III, the emperor of Byzantium, in the 8th century,
when a multitude of hermits stramed to Salento. Leading an ascetic life,
the hermits first occupied the caves along the coast and then the ones
spread in the hinterland, converting them into small churches and lodgings
for the night. In those places a miracle happened: the apses and walls
were covered with marvellous frescoes showing saints from eastern countries
and scenes from the gospel. Many of them preserve their whole beauty still
today. In addition to the crypts, the churches, jewels of art and faith,
increase Salento's broad heritage. Some of them date back to the lower
middle ages under the Byzantines first (S. Peter's in Otranto) and the
Normans then in Veglie and all the others that you fìnd in the
Salento (S. Nicola di Casole), to discover all the passion and enthusiasm
which the anonymous frescoes put in giving life to their colours.
Santa Croce Basilica alone is worthy of a trip to Salento from the farthest
places in the world. Lecce is the triumph of baroque and of Lecce stone,
starting from the magnificent facades of its churches, monasteries, public
buildings and private houses till the humblest of its balconies and portals.
Menhirs are stones, roughly squared and placed vertically in the ground,
of various dimensions and rectangular section, they are located mostly
in isolated places and positioned with the wide prism tace towards the
sun. This last detail suggests that various ritual elements were interwoven,
for example the phallic cult and worshipping the sun with a more practical
and necessary function, linked to the changing of the seasons, e.g. use
as an astronomical observatory or as a meeting place at certain times
of year to take important decisions. There were those who believed in
the mythical idea that they served as severe guardians of precious coins
and fabulous treasure.
A
common element of nearly all the Salentine dolmens is their entrance,
which faces east. 
the
provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto, the Messapians created a civilisation
that was very advanced for its time, evidence of which, sometimes very
impressive evidence, has come to light in recent years, during the numerous
excavations that have taken and are taking place all over the area.
