The candle holders of Sassari

Currently, during the Festha Manna (the Great Feast) of Sassari, ten candle holders are taken on the shoulders of the members of many Guilds of the town (blacksmiths, stone cutters, wayfarers, peasants, carpenters, gardeners, shoemakers, masons, tailors and farmers). Each of them weighs around four quintals and consists of three components: a quadrangular pedestal in which the brackets for carrying on the shoulder are inserted; a cylindrical shaft, three metres high, on which the image of the patron saint of the Guild or the Madonna and the symbols of the trade appears; a capital which is finely decorated and embellished by a ring of flags in cloth of brocade. A series of coloured ribbons begins from the base of each capital (li vetti), sometimes even forty feet long, the ends of which are held by youths placed in a circle around the candle holders.