Patronal celebrations in crisis, due to the absence of young people and bureaucracy. What will happen in the next few years? – BitontoLive.it

The patronal festival which saw the city of Bitonto pay homage to Mary Most Holy Immaculate with events which, as usual, ranged between the religious and the secular, ended a few days ago. First there pilgrimage of the image of the patron saint among the various parishes of the urban center and of the hamlets and then the actual days of celebration, organized by the Patronal Festivals Committee with the support of the municipal administration.

Organizations and events of this magnitude are almost taken for granted, underestimating the amount of work and experience they actually hide. But where do patronal celebrations come from? Everything derives from a very high symbolic value since they are connected to propitiatory and purification rites linked to ancient pagan ceremonies. In the early years of Christianity, the Church organized its festivals on the same dates as the pagan ones to make the peasant people accept and assimilate the new religion. It is no coincidence, therefore, that patron saint festivals very often take place in periods close to crucial periods for agricultural activities such as sowing, harvesting or grape harvest. On the one hand there are the Eucharistic celebrations and the solemn procession, on the other we have the dazzling lights, the concerts with high-sounding names, the musical bands, the fireworks: these are the cornerstones of an authentic patronal celebration. Because traditions remain traditions, albeit with some innovative elements that emerge every now and then to bring curiosity and awaken interest. The organization always begins a few months before the patronal feast, with the formation of a committee that supports the parish priest – who is responsible for the liturgical part – for the folkloristic aspects: the first discussions begin to request the various estimates and above all the the so-called begging among the faithful. In fact, this is often the greatest income to be able to face all the looming expenses. If the municipal administration then comes to the aid of the parish priest and the committee, the button on the shirt can be loosened and it is possible to breathe better.

For some years, however, the patronal festival committees have been increasingly in trouble due to many vicissitudes, first of all the growing disaffection of the faithful and for theabsence of generational change which leads the committees to inexorably die out. In addition to a general increase in costs that reduce the budget available to parish priests and committees every year. At the beginning of May also Nicola Pice And Francesco Paolo Riccirespectively president of the Bitonto patronal celebrations committee and mayor of the city, during the press conference to present the program they launched heartfelt appeals to young people to “there is a need for new blood that can safeguard and continue traditions, feelings and faith”.

Patronal celebration, program presented: Le Vibrazioni and Serena Brancale flagship shows

The patronal festival of Bitonto ended well and with great success among the publicwhich responded in a participatory manner to the religious moments and concerts of Le Vibrazioni and Serena Brancale, filling the city center. The same thing perhaps cannot be said for the hamlet of Palombaio, where the small population compared to Bitonto may not be able to form a party committeeskipping the usual civil events of the patronal feast, also here in honor of the Immaculate Conception, and reducing it to the essential: pilgrimage among the families of Palombaio, solemn mass and procession. Until last year the committee was made up mostly of senior members who had always guaranteed experience and continuity over the last decades. I can’t even talk about young operatives.

«Generational change – he explains to Bitontolive father Fulvio Procinoparish priest of Palombaio – it doesn’t happen for multiple reasons. The first, perhaps, absolutely is given by the distancing of young people, rather than from faith, but rather from religiosity as it has been expressed and manifested up to now. The processions seem to no longer be understood and appreciated, also because, too often, they are linked to an almost superstitious traditional fact. Another major obstacle to generational change is the loss of sense of belonging and, consequently, the lack of availability for free and truly demanding commitment. Preparing a patronal feast today requires a great deal of work and bureaucratic and legal expertise, as well as very difficult finding the funds necessary for it. In past years, on the other hand, there was almost a sort of veto on the part of the older generations against the entry of young people into committees and organisations, almost fearful that the innovations that they could bring would distort the beauty and the good that had been handed down up to that point.”

Generational change, bureaucracy, search for funds. These are therefore the major problems that grip the patron saint’s festivals and their continuation in the decades to come: the link between religion and young people has never been so weak. What could be the recipe for a new way of understanding the patron saint’s festivals and rediscovering them as an important traditional rite?

Father Fulvio Procino has his idea. «Today the social fabric has changed a lot and, if on the one hand it is our duty to pass on the tradition (the fact of faith), we can without fear rethink and, why not, change the traditions, at least as they have been understood up to now. Our ears are always full of music, our eyes increasingly accustomed to lights and special effects, our mouths full of food. Perhaps it is time to return to the search for something more essential that takes us back to the primitive experience of faith that moved our fathers to place the Virgin Mary and the Saints at the center of their lives, to praise and thank the Lord.”

Only time will be able to give the final verdict.