The Feast of the Madonna della Luce

During the Feast of the Madonna della Luce (Our Lady of Light), the Gesanti parade and perform in an spirited ritual made up of bows and “greetings”, which culminates with a wild and dangerous ride (in dialect, the furriata), accompanied by shouts of encouragement and applause by the people. Throughout the year, the puppets of Cronos and Mitya reside in a small church; on 6 September they are carried out for the famous promenade and the next day they return to take custody of the Madonna and escort her in a procession, dancing to the beat of a drum. On 7 September, in fact, the seventeenth-century statue of the Madonna, lying on the typical Sicilian pageant, the lavaretta, leaves the church flanked by the two giants.