The Vara of Messina

The Vara of Messina consist of three platforms placed on a base driven by two iron sleds. In the first there are the depictions of the bloodless Virgin surrounded by the Apostles; in the second the seven heavens that the Alma Maria is getting ready to cross to reach the Empyrean are represented (the heavens are represented with a curtain of clouds that rise surrounded by the sun and the moon, placed according to the Ptolemaic theory); last, however, is a celestial globe with fixed stars. At the top of the Vara, after yet another curtain of clouds dotted with hosts of angels, we find the image of Jesus Christ on the right hand holding the Virgin assumed into heaven. Inside the “machine”, a series of manually operated gears determine the rotational movement, horizontally and vertically, of all the characters (once living, now replaced by papier-mâché puppets). Dense crowds of men and women, often barefoot on account of promises or devotion, cling to ropes that are over a hundred yards long, pulling the “machine” to the cry of “Viva Maria!”. Currently, the procession starts from Piazza Castronovo and continues on to Via Garibaldi, until it reaches the intersection with Via I Settembre. At this point, after a complex maneuver, called the girata or virata, “the spin or turn”, the Vara takes up the short distance that leads to Piazza Duomo. In order to facilitate the transport of the Vara and to decrease the friction with the road, the entire route is sprinkled with water.