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The “Madonna della Buona Nuova” is celebrated every years to Acitrezza the first Sunday of September. We
don’t know, however, when and who introduced its cult, we
know that the festivity was introduced in 1923, instead.
Madonna is the Protecting of the sailors who when leave for
sea entrust to her their destiny. The statue is in the church
of Saint John the Baptist (in the picture) is dated 1911 and it
was done by Angelo Musumeci. At the north of the town, on
the main way, is situated an aedicule (lower picture)
dedicated to her, constructed in 1871 thanks to the sailors. There
is a picture representing the Madonna who brings in arm Jesus with a small ship in the
hand. Before that the aedicule was done, there was another one
older, close to the sea, that it was destroyed. In
1916 after the increase of the population, the archpriest of
Acitrezza, Father De
Maria bought in the zone called " Scalazza " a
land to
build the church of the Madonna. Today, on that land, an
evocative church exists where are celebrated Mass and
marriages. On the Great Rock, in 1954, a statue was
erected representing the Madonna, reachable by boat, going up
to the “Faraglione”, where is a landing place for the
boats. Here, people just married go to put a small
bunch of flowers so that Madonna protects them. 1st September
of 1995 was celebrated a Mass on the Faraglione for the fourty
years from the placing of the statue, celebrated by the
bishop of Acireale with the participation of the faithfuls who
assisted to the Mass from the boats. During the festivity, the
statue of the Madonna goes around the town followed by a band
and fireworks. We can find the stands of "calia": seeds, chickpeas, carob, peanuts and
pistachios. During the procession of the festivity, in the
central public square there is the auction of gifts
collected from the festivity's managers in the morning; gifts
given from the faithfuls. There
are two funny people of Acitrezza: "Zio Nino motto” and
“Zio Nino jaddina” "a vanniare" (shouting) on the
stage selling the gifts. The
festivity is closed with the back of the statue to the
church and the fireworks that illuminate the Lachea
island and the Faraglioni. |
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