FEASTS AND CUSTOMS IN S. GIOVANNI

The heritage of folk customs and traditions of San Giovanni a Teduccio’s borough (as well as that of Naples’s hinterland) is deeply linked with the religious festivities of the area. Here, Catholic rituals were strongly influenced by heathen rites and popular superstition. With time these traditions slowly and progressively were lost, due to  popular attraction of the city which contributed to the changing of life-style in the suburbs. Moreover, religious and public authorities were compelled to eliminate some rites in order to avoid chaos due to euphoric crowds. Today, only two festivities are celebrated in the borough: the feast of San Giovanni Battista (the Saint Patron of the area) even if the number of ceremonies in his honour has been reduced; and the feast of Madonna dell’Arco (even if the Sanctuary is outside the area of San Giovanni).

 
The Feast of San Giovanni Battista

The feast of San Giovanni Battista is celebrated on the 24^th of June. The night before the feast, the celebrations begin and continue for three Sundays.

On the 23^rd the inhabitants of the borough usually begin the preparation of “nocino”, a strong smelling liquor made of nuts, which is an after dinner drink. The hull of the nuts together with pure alcohol is left to ferment in the sun for forty days. The belief is that the preparation of the liquor must coincide with the patron saint’s festivity in order to guarantee the perfect product.

At midnight on the 23^rd girls melt some lead, which is poured in some water, and according to the shapes taken, future premonitions are deduced (if the lead assumes the shape of a boat the girl will marry a sailor).

 On the morning of the 24^th, fireworks give way to the beginning of the festivities, and in the streets of the borough a local band plays. It is a custom on that day to decorate balconies with lights and to have a very large dinner. The typical meal of the day is aubergines covered with chocolate.

Aubergines are sliced and covered with salt and put in the sun for a few hours, after that they are washed, squeezed and fried and then put in layers covered with chocolate and pieces of citron, baked in the oven.

On the following three Sundays, the statue of the Patron Saint is carried in a procession and people throw money from balconies into bags or baskets.

On the last Sunday of the month, the procession proceeds towards Portici; on the first Sunday of July it goes towards Naples. Only on the second Sunday of July the statue parades in the streets of the borough from Croce del Lagno to the “ponte dei francesi”, closing the celebrations. The procession of the last day is defined as “luxurious”.

The worship of San Giovanni goes back to an old feast of Neapolitan fishermen, as written by C. Celano in 1692, who stated that it had not been celebrated for about 20 years. At that time, the statue of the Saint was carried in a procession from the boroughs of the port (the present area of Piazza Municipio) to the Church dedicated to the Saint, situated beyond the walls of the market, presumably in the area of San Giovanni a Teduccio (see V. Petrarca, La festa di San Giovanni Battista a Napoli nella prima metà del Seicento, Palermo, 1986). The worship of San Giovanni Battista has become a local religious tradition in the area of the church, even though it has been abandoned by the lower classes.

 
H orseracing

In the first half of our century celebrations in honour of San Giovanni Battista lasted until the third Sunday of July with an ancient horserace. This tradition goes back to the Borbonic Restoration (1814-1815) even if, throughout the XIX century, as revealed in historical documents, the race took place on different dates.

Scholars of San Giovanni a Teduccio’s history recount that this custom originated when Corso San Giovanni a Teduccio had taken the shape of a winding road three kilometres long, after the distruction of the road covered with Belgian block. This road was used for training by the Borbonic horseback riding school, whose large stable was at Borgo Loreto. On their way back, the trained horses, at the sound of a gunshot, began spontaneously to run towards the stable. Hence bringing about the tradition of horseracing.( C. Lucarella, San Giovanni a Teduccio, Napoli, 1992, p. 681 ). Still today the inhabitants of the area can remember when about ten horses from AGRO AVERSANO and CASERTANO were started off at full gallop along the avenue by jockeys wearing shirts of different bright colours (red, green, yellow…): people were offered crushed ice drinks of the same colour as the winner’s shirt. Thousands of spectators, coming from all over Naples, thronged dangerously along the racecourse, as stated in the City Hall records. In order to prevent any accidents, authorities ordered a deployment of policemen for the occasion. Even though there was a strong and attentive presence of Police, accidents happened all the same. These reasons caused Religious and Civil Authorithies to abolish horseracing at the beginning of the 50s.

The Celebration of the Madonna dell'Arco

This is a deeply felt religious festivity in the suburbs of Naples which has been celebrated for ages, every year on the Monday following Easter, in a village called by the same name.

 There are many associations whose names honour  the Madonna dell’ Arco. Many weeks before the celebration, they collect money offered by people to take to the Sanctuary. The Monday following Easter, as stated above, the devotees, wearing a uniform, have a procession.

They are entirely dressed in white with a red cummerbund around their waist or a long light blue sash. At the end of the sash, there is a golden bow. Recently, the cummerbund and the sash have been replaced by a light bluish-red cockade. These devotees are named Fujenti,giving life to the famous rite of  “the big escape”( see Roberto De Simone Chi è devoto. Feste popolari in Campania, Napoli, 1974 ).

Till the middle of the 60s, two orderly rows of pilgrims walked the streets leading to the Sanctuary, preceeded by banners from each association and followed by a canopy with the image of the Blessed Virgin. Every association was led by a “capoparanza”, who, with a whistle, indicated when the procession could be interrupted: everyone, then, began to jump and to dance barefoot and many would throw themselves face down, shaking their bodies wildly.

Arriving to the Sanctuary they accelerated their pace (this has the name Fujenti derived) and passed the threshold of the Church. They walked all the way up to the altar on their knees or, till the 30’s, with their tongues on the floor.

Fortunately, such performances of mania no longer take place, but worship of the Virgin is still very strong.

Today the procession of the fujenti is perhaps less orderly (the pilgrims move in-groups) and spectacular. However, once arriving to the Sanctuary, hysterical behaviour could happen, such as: crises, shoutings, contorsions, odd dances.

Scholars think that there may be some relationship between the fujenti and the “tarantolati” from  Galatina of Puglia. But the act of escaping is typical of the devotees of the Madonna dell’Arco, which dates back to the episodes of miracle and punishment (the swearers, punished, escaped) which are at the origins of the worship and the foundation of the Sanctuary, wanted by Pope Clemente VIII in 1593 ( see G. Porcaro, Feste popolari in Campania, Napoli,1990 ).

It is common among the miraculously healed people to offer as ex voto legs, arms and heads of wax or silver, or small pictures showing the miracle received ( see Toschi P.- Penna R., Le tavolette votive di Madonna dell’Arco, Cava dei Tirreni, 1971; or N. D’Antonio, Gli ex voto dipinti e il rituale dei Fujenti a Madonna Dell’Arco, Cava dei Tirreni 1979 ). The pictures cover the walls of the Sanctuary completely, testifying the devotion which remains unaltered throughout the centuries.