PhD Program in Historical studies
The Feast of San Paolino and the Gigli di Nola (Naples)
The Feast of the Gigli of Nola is held every year on the Sunday after June 22, the feast day of the patron saint San Paolino (Saint Paulinus). Tradition attributes the liberation of a group of inhabitants of Nola brought to Africa as slaves by the Vandals in the fifth century to the saint. To celebrate the feat accomplished by the then bishop of Nola, the guilds of the town, in the Early Modern period, carried huge candles supported by wooden scaffolding adorned with flowers in procession, which were though at first simple supports and then turned into veritable allegorical wagons (in the form of globes, pyramids or ships). In the mid seventeenth century, as happened to the candle holders of Sassari, the candles disappeared from the Gigli. The memory of the ancient rite of oblation, however, remains in the name of the votive “machines”: the word Giglio “lily”, in fact, derives from the Italianization of the word in dialect, Cilio (candle). Over time, the competition between the various trades led to the construction of obelisks which were increasingly artistically complex and heavy. During the nineteenth century, while the lilies were taking on the spectacular form they have today, papier-mâché became the main decorative element.