It was December 26, 1394 and the coasts of Puglia were suffering from the Saracen threat. The Knights of Malta, governors of the territory, decided to transfer the relics of St. Stephen from Monopoli to Putignano.
The relics are kept inside a silver head, a work of Romanesque goldsmithing, which reproduces the face of a crusader. And here is the wooden statue of the saint, who became the protector of the town.
It is said that the solemn procession attracted the attention of the farmers, busy grafting the vines with the technique of propaggine, and that they joined in dancing and improvising verses in dialect, with their faces smeared with flour. Thus was born “Le Propaggini”, a sort of traditional peasant masquerade that later became an occasion for heated satire towards the characters of local administrative life.
On the evening of December 26, the long series of carnival events begins, with groups of “propagginanti” who improvise polemical verses in the vernacular from a stage.
On St. Stephen's Day, a procession begins which ends with the president of the Carnival Foundation handing over a candle to the president of the Patron Saint Festivals Committee.
The ceremony aims to ask for forgiveness for the sins that Carnival will bring (in short, a preventive forgiveness, after Christmas, Boxing Day and the start of less rigorous festivities, such as New Year's Eve and therefore Carnival)
The period ends with the parades of the seven allegorical floats, making it the longest carnival in the world.
In 1953 the Putignano Carnival was recognized as a “tourist and cultural event of great importance”. On this occasion the Carnival presented its own mask and thus “Farinella” was born.
It is inspired by a popular character, a drunken joker who dresses as a jester-harlequin, with red cheeks and coarse features.
Farinella has three bells around his neck and a three-pointed hat, to indicate the three hills of Putignano, and a bag attached to his belt, to contain a flour made from toasted barley and chickpeas, from which the mask takes its name.
A typical tradition of the Putignano Carnival is the Thursdays preceding Fat Thursday.
Starting from the first Thursday after January 17, the day of St. Anthony the Abbot, every Thursday is dedicated to a social category. No one is spared: monsignors, priests, nuns, the madmen, that is, young bachelors, married women and, to finish in glory, on Fat Thursday, cuckolds are celebrated!
The recent institution of the Accademia delle Corna (complete with headquarters and coat of arms) has ennobled the category of cuckolds, since in the Itria Valley and in the Bari area, “sei un gran cornuto” means “you’re a smart one!”. If you’re not from those parts, consider this epithet a delicious compliment.
The Cornèo, a procession of academics wearing cloaks and black forked top hats (real top hats complete with horns) awards the “Great Cuckold of the Year” early in the morning – whose name is kept a secret until the award ceremony.
Once you arrive at the home of the chosen one, early in the morning to make sure that he is at home, you give him a parchment and the imposition on his head of the “Superbo Palco Cornèo”.
In the afternoon, the Cornèo invites all the “cuckolds” to the “public gathering” – a metaphorical place of purification – to have their horns cut off, with the subsequent delivery of a “health card” certifying their size and state of health.
The following photo reportage tells the story of the event from the first light of dawn until the official proclamation.
Amore DI Puglia Pillow
Maccheroni Pasta
Orecchiette Pasta
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