Putignano - Puglia - Italy

The passage of the candle | The opening of the Propaggini

The calendar has it that the beginning of the Putignano Carnival coincides with the day on which the Christian religion celebrates saint stephen's day.

On December 26, as well as the opening of the carnival, for the Putignanesi and for the Christians of the world, Santo Stefano is celebrated who is also the patron saint of Putignano. The religious celebrations represented by the unwinding of a long procession through the city streets that starts from the Church of Santa Maria, where are the relics of Saint Stephen have been kept. All the religious brotherhoods that are historically part of the diocesan area including Putignano parade along the streets of the ancient village and part of the new town with the relics and the statue of the saint.

Carnival is notoriously an event that contains in itself not only colors, music, smiles, but also excesses, abuses and exaggerations. All elements strongly opposed to the dictates of rigor imposed by the Christian institution which is the church. As a symbol of union between Christian rigor and the excesses of Carnival there is the passage of the candle. A symbolic gesture of tolerance on the part of the church, which allows the people first of all, then to those who have to sing the lyrics of the Propaggini to put sarcasm, irony, little vulgarities in the streets."

During the procession of the faithful through the streets of the city, the passage of the candle takes place between the President of the Patronal Festivals Committee of Putignano and the pro tempore President of the Putignano Carnival Foundation as a symbolic request for forgiveness for all the "sins" that will be committed during the Carnival period.

The Storytellers of Putignano 1900s

Pietro Calisi, known as a Farnodd, is one of the storytellers of the early 1900s. Born in 1855 and died in 1940.

He used to present himself to his audience in a dark tailcoat and top hat. He arrived in the central square where the show took place in a carriage and from this he recited his verses aloud, without the aid of any form of amplification. He is spoken of at a regional level with an article in the newspaper "Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno" of 31 December 1937 entitled "A joyful custom in Putignano - The Plantation of the Offshoot" A joyful custom in Putignano - The Plantation of the Propaggine

The figure of him is said to have inspired the official mask of the Putignano Carnival, Farinella

Like any good satirical comedian, he needed a shoulder to serve him the joke on a silver platter. His shoulder was Pietro Galluzzi, known as u triesten (the Triestino)

Stefano Caldi, known as "U Bar'Sidd" (a small inhabitant of Bari) because his father was originally from Bari, born on 29 December 1888 and died on 30 January 1981. Originally his surname was Cauto, a surname that his father changed to Warm for all his children. Stefano was born to Giuseppe by profession bastagio, that is to say port porter and by Veronica Genco and by profession he was upholsterer.

One of the Propaggini Artist and masks of the most popular characters that Putignano has had. He embodied a simple and spontaneous satire, a character that reached directly to the hearts of those present.

Pietro Campanella alias "mest Pit Scialam" or "u massar di Scagghiun" (from the farm of Scaglioni owned by him). The father and teacher of the generation of the current Propagginanti artists. great supporter of the Putignano Carnival, exceptional rhyming creator, as well as a great building contractor of the 60s.

He wrote the rhyming verses together with his cousin Giuseppe Genco, for them it was pure fun, before he rhymes. We also missed a few foul jokes for which self-censorship was ready. Campanella participated in the Propaggini from 1949 to 1979. In addition to being an offshoot, he was a poet in the vernacular. Here is a composition of him:

a vicchiezz ì na carogn

Quann l'omm fasc vècchie
devènd tòtta peddècchie,
tutt còs arrappelèsc
i chiù nòdd vedduquèsc;f'nèscen i bullor
i accumèn'zen i delour,
ogni dèì i nu defètt
i s ferm por a lancett:
a dà a cord nan 'z penz
i arrumman e sì i menz;
i'not'l ca t'abbel,
fasc cartedd u fucel
i c mitt u resc't sop o gr'llett
ton na'n'zind niscion effett.
A vicchiezz i na carogn.
nann'àbbott chiou a zambogn
i rumman arrabbiat
vocck d pel i cap sp'lat
addavir ch'è na fr'gsator
quann s guast u cazzator:
por a mangià t vin a sost
senza dint nann'acchy gost,
pird por l'app'tet
tott cos d'vent'n sciapet
i gastem ! porca m'sery !
i rumman cu d's'dery.
A desc'r sti cos nan'g' v'rgogn
ma a vicchiezz i na carogn.

Equally important for Putignano and its Carnascial tradition are the master lyricists:

Giacomo Pagliarulo (Macchij oscor), Damiano Andresini (Friscia cec'r), Fedele Dalessandro (F'r'lon) e suo figlio Dino Dalessandro, Giuseppe Bianco (u sartor), Pietro Campanella (Scialam), Armando Genco, Rocco Faniuolo (mest Rocch), Nicola Monopoli, Peppino Basile e Remino Romanazzi (Zenna zenn) ad altri.

From the procession of the relics of Santo Stefano to the opening of the Putignano Carnival

The birth of the rite of the Propaggini and therefore of the Carnival of Putignano, dates back to 1394, the year of the transfer of the relic of Saint Stephen from the abbey of the same name in Monopoli to Putignano.

In the medieval period, in fact, the feudal lords of Putignano resided in the abbey of Santo Stefano, still inhabited today, i.e. in chronological order first the Benedictines and then, from 1317 onwards, the Knights of the Gerosolimitano Order, which became after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Saracens, Order of the Knights of Malta.

The precious reliquary with part of the skull of Saint Stephen was kept in this Abbey. The relics of the saint were transferred in 1394 to the Church of S. Maria la Greca in Putignano to defend it from any incursions by pirates or Saracens, possible due to the abbey's outlook towards the sea.

During the transfer of the relics, the peasants of Putignano, who at that time were intent on making the offshoots of the vines, that is to bury the shoots without cutting them from the mother-plant to give life to a new plant, queued to the procession of the Knights and once they arrived in the village they improvised songs and dances for the joy of having the protection of a saint on site. Since then, the feast of Santo Stefano and the rite of the Propaggini have been celebrated on the same day, December 26th.

"Propaggini" 's rite

A mix of theater in music, rhyming words and sarcasm in the ancient vernacular in the main square of the historic village. This is what every year on December 26, from the early hours of the afternoon, brings together so many spectators who attend a show that, in the end, is the synthesis of a year of politics, administration, life lived and events in the country.

Throughout the afternoon, challenging the often adverse weather conditions, the offshoots, that is the dialectal poets, tell to the sound of music and rhyming jokes how the politician on duty behaved in fulfilling his commitment to the citizens, a well-known character in city in the work in their professional sector, rather than the spiritual worker in the moral assistance to their community. No one, worthy of mention for acts that are too or too little deserving, escapes the creativity of the lyricists.

We can certainly confirm that the RAP, acronym for Rhythm and Poetry - rhythm and poetry, the musical genre born at the turn of the 70s in America as an expression of protest by young black people, has been practiced here in Putignano since 1394. Certainly different in rhythms , notes and instruments, but close in philosophy.

The recitation of the "Ceppòn", that is of the satirical verses, has always been considered a purifying rite by the community which, "putting in the streets" the misdeeds of the country life of the past year, wants to propitiate an almost better future. From 26 December the official start of the Putignano Carnival, the longest in Italy and the oldest in Europe.