The Wheat Festival in Jelsi (CB) in Molise is one of the most characteristic events of Molise, recognized as an INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF ITALY and in 2018 also a CULTURAL HERITAGE OF EUROPE. Celebration with a profound popular religiosity in which, through the sense of solidarity and complete gratuity towards one’s community.
The inhabitants of Jelsi weave kilometers of wheat braids. The woven grain will be stretched along the streets of the town in the Fortore Valley and will serve to welcome the procession of Sant’Anna, in which wagons and “traglie” pulled by loaded oxen and decorated with spikes and worked straw will parade.
The festival, which has always been held on July 26, was born in 1805 following the earthquake of that year and is part of a series of festivals that have their roots in the cereal companies of the Mediterranean.
The particularity of the event, in addition to the meticulous processing of the grain, are the “traglie”, a sort of wooden sleds loaded with grain and surmounted by a small straw structure, the “palomma”, which contains images and symbols in straw, which in some Amerindian cultures they call it the “eye of god”.
The opportunity, as well as savoring the fruits of the lands of the Fortore Valley, is useful for getting to know an intact agricultural and pastoral culture that still survives in the hills of the Molise Sub-Apennines.
The event begins at 9 am with the blessing of the traglie and allegorical floats, continues with the parade of floats through the streets of the city and ends late in the evening, with a musical show and fireworks.
Cover photo by Barbara Serafini da www.fremondoweb.com
The 2022 program of the Festa del Grano is being continuously updated and therefore the definitive one is not yet published but only a quick draft
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