RITUAL CONNECTED TO THE BURN OF THE OLD YEAR:
FIELD BURNING AND PAGAN RITUALS

By the Civic Museums of Pitigliano and the Regional History Museum ''Academician Jordan Ivanov''of Kyustendil with the cooperation of EURO INNOVANET srl and The Brukenthal National Museum

Archaeology and folklore are among the most important means through which researchers can read the past of human gender. Of course, both the disciplines introduce more than few problems related to the decoding and the interpretation of the data, since the material testimonies, written or tangible, at the researchers disposal, are always filtered through the norms dictated by the cult, by the role covered by the individual within his society, and by the social environment.

Archaeology and folklore have a commune origin, that can be found in Antiquaria studies developed in Europe between the 16^th and the first half the 19^thcentury of our era. The roots of Antiquaries' studies were in the GreekRoman Age, being that interest for the customs of "different" people and for the annotations on phenomena or ancient traditions handed down by the geographers and the naturalists especially starting from the Hellenistic Age.

With the progress in the studies and the new and unexpected discoveries that in Europe gave evidence to a human presence on the Earth in times much  more remote compared to what the Catholic doctrine handed down, it appeared almost as a natural result the separation of the field of investigation between the two sectors, and their definition as separate academic disciplines.

A fundamental event that promoted this separation lies in the discoveries of stone tools, realized by man in a very ancient age, that were made in Europe in the first half of the 19^th century. The study of these recoveries marks the appearance of a new discipline in the field of the studies on early men: Paleontology.

Based on a scientific approach, of positivistic kind, and fortified by geologic and naturalistic data constituting integral and essential part in the framing of the period to which referring the presence of man, Paleoethnology was focused on the study of testimonies of the material culture.

At the same time, on the other side of the research on the Human History, studies were more and more addressed toward the oral traditions. During this evolution, the term "popular antiquity" was replaced by the term "folklore" (Volkskunde).

Beginning from the years '50s, some archaeologists started looking with interest and attention at the studies on folklore and begun to use some of its information transferring them in the field of the Prehistory. G. Clark, for instance, in his monograph titled The Economic Basis of Europe (1954), analyzes the practices and the contemporary agricultural techniques, hypothesizing that these can give useful indications for the same activities carried out, in ancient age, in the same regions.

In the actual phase, the way to face the connections involving both the studies of archaeology and folklore is deeply changed, and it responds to different questions, aiming to face ample problems, that are at the base of the social groups development and of the relationships with the sphere of the Sacred and with the world of Nature.

For instance, as in the case of the tradition of the "torciata" (a procession with torchbearer) of Pitigliano, that takes place on the 19^th of March in the recurrence of san Joseph, the two disciplines can compete, together, both in the individualization of the origin of this event and to guarantee its maintenance as element of the identity of the local population.

In the same way, also a different approach in the study of the decorative motives that appear on the vessels as well as on the traditional carpets, and in the observation of the techniques used for the creation of the medieval and modern ornamental objects held in the Regional Historical Museum "Academician Yordan Ivanov" of Kyustendil can show a link with signs and symbols attested on the more ancient ceramic production and in the jewels found in the archaeological contexts.

To close this introduction, it could be remembered that traditions always preserve testimonies of past activities, but also that they must be analyzed and interpreted  with accuracy and that, besides, the historical events could not be fully comprehensible without making reference to actions of real women and men, actions that we just find really in the folklore (Joyner 1989:18).

As pointed out by the detailed study recently done by A. Proietti on the tradition of the "torciata" of St. Joseph in Pitigliano, that constitutes also our source of information for this aspect (Proietti 2003), "the central nucleus of the torciata of san Joseph is constituted by a rite that foresees the incineration of a puppet of reeds, the Invernaccciu (the ''bad Winter''), by means of a group of young dressed with jute (the ''torchbearer'') that, bringing some bundles of red hot reeds on their shoulders, trace a run from the outside toward the inside of the country. The inhabitants of Pitigliano assist to the procession looking to the flames in which the "puccio" (puppet) is wrapped up. Music, wine and rice pancakes complete the feast." (Proietti 2003: 24).

 

Final phase of the ''torciata'': the puppet (Invernacciu) is fired.

 

The torch bearer are resting along the way that will bring them to the square of the village.

According to the tradition of Pitigliano, the run of the flamers crosses a ''via cava'', the characteristic and fascinating paths dug in the rock on which the specific section can be observed.

The recurrence of St. Joseph is celebrated in the whole Italian territory, with different formalities, but two elements are always present: the ceremony of the fires and the pancakes.

In the Latin calendar the new year started with the month of March, the month devoted to the god Mars; in our calendar, this is the month with which the astrological calendar begins, with the Aries' sign, sign of fire and symbol of renewal, in which the spring equinox falls: the sun overcomes the equinox line of the celestial equator moving toward the northern hemisphere, thus giving beginning to the spring.

For its characteristics, the ceremonies carried out on the occasion of the recurrence of St. Joseph are therefore connected to the rhythm of the country life, that sinks its roots in Prehistory. For the good result of the crop, in fact, it appeared particularly critical the passage from winter to spring, because just in this period, frosts, that would cause the irremediable loss of the crop, are still possible.

These ceremonies, therefore, could be interpreted as propitiatory rites, in which the presence of the fire and the action to burn the puppet symbolizing the winter would represent the killing of the Death (the winter) and the advent of a new cycle.

Besides, in the specific case of Pitigliano, on the base of the researches conducted from A. Proietti, the realization of the torches and of the puppet representing the winter, made using brushwood of reeds, could led to hypothesize the existence, in ancient times, "of a spring ceremony related to the productive cycle of the grapevine."

The reeds, in fact, before the appearance of the actual plastic tools or new systems of grapevine cultivation, were essential to sustain the grapevine shoots in their growth.

An ancient origin has also been hypothesized for what concerns the consumption of the pancakes and, in general, of the cakes that accompanies the recurrence of St. Joseph. Once more, it deals with a link to practices and rituals connected to the agricultural world, in this case of Roman age.

On the occasion of the feasts in honor of the god of Libero (called Liberalia), divinity devoted to the fertility of the crops, that took place on the 17^th of March, the young Romans used to wear the virile robe therefore entering the civil society.

In the same day, the elderly women, crowned of ivy, named priestesses of Libero, used to prepare and sell in the streets some flour and honey pizza breads called libae or frictilia. Part of them was offered to the divinity while the remaining part was consumed between songs and dances.