The Fire Festival in Giazza - Vaur Ljetzan

Scenes from the show "Aurora" by the Company "Piccolo Nuovo Teatro" of Bastia Umbra (PG) - Fire Festival 2019

Today's Festa del Fuoco includes two moments of entertainment: a first part in which aerial dances, stilts, pyrotechnic effects and live fire enchant those present in a whirlwind of emotions; the second part, consisting of a representation of popular myths and legends of Lessinia. The village of Giazza itself is transformed into a stage setting, The show culminates with the arrival of the torch bearers of light and hope, followed by Aissa Maissa, the Queen of the Fades, who together with her young handmaidens, helps the Cimbrian woodcutters drive away the darkness by chasing away the ogre or menacing strie (witches), thus freeing them from their evil spells. The festival ends with the lighting of the 13 braziers, a symbol of the union of the ancient thirteen Cimbrian communities of Lessinia, around which the torchbearers and fades invite those present to join in dancing in a circle, so as to keep witches and evil away.

The story of the 13th commune

Giazza (Ljetzan) is the cradle of the Cimbri, a population of Bavarian-Tyrolean origin who settled in the area around the 12th-13th centuries, introducing an alternative culture and an economy based on coal and lime production: the last bastion where the inhabitants still keep alive the traditions and ancient Germanic speech, known locally as tauc. Following the arrival of the Cimbri, the bishop of Verona, Bartolomeo della Scala, granted the large group of settlers of German origin, on February 5, 1287, the vast uninhabited territory north of Roverè Veronese, more commonly known by the name "Lessini Mountains." The settlers were allowed to clear the land, create pastures for livestock and build farms. They were also free to administer themselves, to elect their own parish priests speaking their own language, to preserve their own traditions and to unite into larger communities.

Aissa Maissa offers those present a bunch of "magical" herbs

These communities, over time, grew in number and, towards the end of the 14th century, formed the 13 municipalities of the "Carbon High Mountain," as the Lessin plateau was then called: Vèlje (Velo Veronese), Roveràit (Roverè Veronese), Silvan (Camposilvano), Azari (Azzarino), Salain (San Mauro di Saline), Tavernole, Brunghe (Selva di Progno, of which Giazza was also a part), San Bartolomeo al Todesco or San Burtal (San Bortolomeo delle Montagne), 'Abato (Badia Calavena), Alferia el Sirè (Cerro Veronese), Pourantal (Valdiporro), Naughe Kirche (Bosco Chiesanuova), Kan Bisan (Erbezzo). The number thirteen for the Veronese municipalities of Lessinia was not always fixed, but dates back to a document of 1616.

The arrival of the 13 torches

Knowing herbs to protect against evil

An ancient tradition says that on this magical night women were supposed to collect dew to make St. John's water to be infused with herbs to increase their beauty and their own fertility. One such herb is St. John's w ort , known as "St. John's wort," which, with its tiny yellow flowers, also protected wayfarers: those who were on the road on the night of the eve, when the witches were on their way in droves to the site of their annual convention, were protected from their spells by tucking St. John's wort under their shirts along with garlic, rue and mugwort. Then there is verbena, which, if picked at midnight on St. John's Eve, protected against lightning. Another important herb is heather, which, according to legend, was sown by fairies and goblins in the places they frequented: men who stepped on it would be lost in the darkness, while those who slept in its bushes could be kidnapped into the fairy world. Aissa Maissa, Queen of the Fades, and her handmaidens upon their arrival offer spectators of the Fire Festival a bunch of these freshly harvested herbs according to tradition, to be thrown into the braziers as a wish of good luck for those present.