The Feast of St. Joseph and the Festival of Chickpeas

For many years in Milis the Sunday following March 19, which is the Feast of St. Joseph, the Sagra dei Ceci (Chickpea Festival) has been held, much loved by all the people of Milis. It consists of the preparation and distribution to the entire population of a delicious and tasty dish of chickpeas seasoned, according to an ancient recipe, with pieces of lard, oil and wild fennel. Popular tradition says that this feast originated when priest Don Giuseppe Mastinu, who became parish priest in 1889, is said to have arranged, after his death, to sell all his patrimony and after giving some sums to his relatives, to invest the remainder in an annuity whose interest was to be used, among other things, for alms in perpetuity to the poor. Due to disputes with relatives, his arrangements were not carried out until 1920. Of course, giving alms to the poor that would get everyone to agree was not easy. And so the distribution of a hot and nutritious meal, a chickpea soup called Su cungiau de su predi, was thought to be the best solution, for sure.