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Sassari festivals
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One of Sardinia's showiest festivals - the
Cavalcata
- takes place in SA?ssari on
Ascension Day
(the fortieth day after Easter, usually the penultimate Sunday of May), the highlight of a month of cultural activities. Northern Sardinia's equivalent to CA?gliari's Sant'Efisio festival, it attracts hundreds of richly costumed participants from villages throughout the province and beyond. Originally staged for the benefit of visiting Spanish kings or other dignitaries, it lapsed until its revival forty years ago by the local branch of the Rotary Club. The festival is divided into three stages, the morning featuring a horseback parade and a display of the embroidered and decorated costumes unique to each village, after which there is a show of stirring feats of horsemanship at the local race course, ending with traditional songs and dances back in Piazza Italia.
On the afternoon of
August 14
there is a much more local affair -
I Candelieri
, linked to the Pisan devotion to the Madonna of the Assumption. It became a regular event when an outbreak of plague in SA?ssari in 1652 mysteriously abated on the eve of the feast of the Assumption, since when the ritual has been repeated annually as a token of thanks. The rumbustious event involves bands of
gremi
, or medieval guilds of merchants, artisans and labourers, decked out in Spanish-style costumes and bearing gigantic wooden "candlesticks", 8m tall, through the old town. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Italy,
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