FESTIVALS AND TRADITIONS IN FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA

The traditions also, as well as the cooking, bear the signs of a very complex ethno-linguistic history. The area has always been a meeting point and a crossroad of different ethnic groups and cultures. Therefore it is rich of linguistic varieties and traditions.

The fire
Fire is a supporting element in the tradition of that region. It is present in many popular ceremonies, but its presence is very strong in Friuli. Fire rituals are practiced in festivals of patron saints and other saints, like for example in Carnia where during some festivals burning circles are thrown ("da lis cidulis"), wishing prosperity. Throughout almost all the region, the first important ritual of the year is the celebration of Epiphany. In that occasion big propitiatory bonfires are lighted to guarantee the fecundity of the soil.

The mysterious fascination of the twelfth night, the Epiphany's night, the last one of the Christmas period, has always charmed people throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and the Near East, and there are many ancient traditions connected to that night. The Epiphany's fires of Friuli, the "Pignarûi" or "Palavins" extinguish devoid "of awkward devils and bizarre witches", unlike other Christmas traditions of Center-northern Europe, faithful to a three thousand years rituality that was undoubtedly, and also deeply, Celtic, but whose origins go even more back in time