Both religious spirit and purely cultural
interest provide the motivation that pushes the traveller
to participate and discover this region’s numerous
festivals. Festivals which have had the fortune of being
handed down through the years to us.
During these festivals the entire local population recognizes
their origins, which are usually agricultural and pastoral.
The Madonna della Bruna festival, for example, coincides
with the harvesting period. The “maggi” (the
Maggio of Acettura and the Pitu of Rotonda) are propitiatory
festivals for fertility and abundance in general. Even the
dark and obsessive sound of the large cow-bells and alpha
bulls, that in San Mauro Forte announces the beginning of
Carnival the 16th. Of January (the vigil of San Antonio
Abate), has a liberating function: the passage of the old
to the new agricultural year, full of good wishes. The celebration
of the end of the period of sterility and of the return
of proliferation.
The Bruna festival of Matera
This festival is perhaps one of the most
involving and intense events in which one might participate
during a stay in Basilicata.
The legend states that during the harvesting period, upon
returning from the fields in his wagon, a farmer happened
upon a woman standing on the side of the road who was shabbily
dressed and asked him for a ride into town.
This is the origin of the representation of the Carro (float),
rich in the colour of the papier-mâché emblems
and statues, which is used to transport the “bella
Signora”
(beautiful Lady), who is the prodigy or miracle of Matera.
The festivities in the honour of Maria SS. della Bruna have
taken place since 1389. At dawn on the 2nd of July the Materan
people meet up at the Cathedral to begin the “pastoral
procession”. The crowd follows the picture of the
Madonna della Bruna which passes through the streets of
the city amidst fireworks. In the afternoon the festival
continues with the “farmers procession”. Horsemen
in costume ride in line down the streets of the historic
centre escorting the triumphal papier-mâché
float and its statue of the Madonna della Bruna until it
reaches the Cathedral. The float, symbol of the festival,
pulled by eight mules, is then destroyed in the final assault
made as it reaches the Vittorio Veneto Piazza. This is followed
by a fireworks display that illuminates the Sassi and the
Moors opposite. The festival, which is held very close to
the heart of the Materan people, sees a great participation
of “the faithful” who come from numerous nearby
towns.
The arbor
culture
A
mix between sacred and pagan, the arbour cult is still quite
diffuse in various mountain towns of the Lucano hinter-land.
The most famous being the “Maggio” of Acettura,
an ancient propitiatory rite, representing a sort of “matrimony”
of two trees: the Maggio and the Cima.
The festival begins the day of the Ascension when a group
of lumber-jacks meet in the nearby Montepiano woods where
they choose and cut-down the tallest and straightest tree
the: “Maggio”. The day of the Pentecost the
farmers meet-up in the Gallipoli-Cognato forest where they
choose the fullest tree they can find the: “Cima”,
which will be married to the Maggio. The Maggio is pulled
by bulls, while the Cima is carried on people’s backs,
until the people carrying it are worn out. Joined in the
countryside the Cima and Maggio are received with great
joy, with of bands playing and offerings of local food and
wine. The Tuesday after Pentecost, the wedding of the Maggio
and Cima is celebrated. The consecration concludes with
a contest between different teams of hunters, that taking
turns, shoot metal targets tied between the branches of
the Cima, and with the climbing of the Maggio. He who reaches
the Cima first becomes, for that day , the hero of the town
and the human “image” of the winning tree. 
Before
descending one hangs by their knees from the branches at
the top of the trees and remains suspended for a couple
of minutes while the crowd waits in apprehension and stupor.
The arbour cult is still diffuse in the Lucano hinterland
among various mountain towns. On the 13th of June in Rotonda
there is a festival which represents a very strong tie between
man and nature. At dawn on the 9th of June a group from
the community gathers on the mountainside to cut the trees.
About 50 medium-large sized trees get cut down; riflemen
gradually begin shooting in the air in order to locate one
another as they march with the logs, towards their destination.
Waiting at the entrance of the festival site are smaller
logs. The 13th of June sees the arrival of the largest log,
greeted by the local authorities and the bishop, before
being raised and set by hand.
Carnival
In the peasant cultural tradition Carnival
is celebrated as the rebirth and revival of the earth, through
propitiatory rituals for fertility and the abundance of
the harvest.
In medieval times it was believed that in the dark and under
ground, subterranean divinities or demons hid, that with
their strength could leave a mark on the productive cycle.
It is from this that the demonic mask arose. 
In
Tricarico, the masks are of men who symbolize a herd driven
by the lead farmer, a farmhand and three cow-herders. To
the sound of cowbells ringing, boys dress as bulls and cows
to symbolize the seasonal transferring of the livestock
In Cirigliano the end of Carnival, is played out in the
piazza the evening of the last Sunday of the festival. This
is preceded by the representation of the months of the seasons
and is considered as two phases of a single ritual. These
rituals also serve to celebrate farm work. The twelve figures
who personify the months of the year wear local costumes
and carry symbols and equipment that represent the relative
climactic conditions of each month. Four young men personify
the seasons.
The Procession of the Mysteries
Also very popular is the “Mysteries”
and the sacred plays. Barile is a town in the Vulture area.
Every year its name is associated with the representation
of the Passion of Christ, created as a procession with live
people. The procession is said to have been imported 150
years ago by a certain Cefola, an old sexton who is supposed
to have essentially copied an ancient custom from Genzano
di Lucania. This custom is characterized by the unanimous
and devoted participation of the town’s entire population.
All feel themselves to be actors and participate directly
in the drama. The sense of mysticism and mysterious charm
of so much religion is moving.
