Our friend Francesco Sabatini, the Bagpiper, took part in the procession at Cocullo on 1st May this year. He was there as Bagpiper accompanying the Saint in procession!

A beautiful pic of Francesco performing while accompanying the procession in Cocullo

We already spoke about this very unusual festival that takes place, in this little village in Abruzzo, every year May 1st (see our post 10th May 2012). What we want to show you here are some interesting, colorful details of the procession and the people in it:

As we know from our previous post San Domenico is taken in procession “dressed up” with snakes

In this crazy, joyful, fascinating, old ritual the Bishop and the Priests precede the statue and the local band accompanies them all.

The Bishop precedes San Domenico’s statue while the band performs traditional religious songs

Young girls dress up with traditional costumes for the occasion.

A young woman wearing a traditional costume

Although this girl does not seem to be too comfortable holding a snake!

A young woman wearing a traditional costume

The procession is opened by Cocullo’s people dressed up in traditional pastoral costumes. They hold the Cross, the symbols and flags from the town and carry around candles. They all sing as they walk along the small roads of Cocullo.

Local people dressed up for the occasion in old costumes

Some very interesting faces and characters show up!

Look at the images of the Saint held in his hat!

People of all ages takes part in the procession. Here some women elegantly dressed in Abruzzo traditional costumes.

Beautiful, proud faces. They all sing

And more young man playing accordion and joining the music from the Band and from the Bagpipers.

People of all ages, inhabitants of Cocullo, they all take it very seriously

Remember we spoke about the traditional donuts that are made before the Festival and carried in procession in beautifully dressed baskets. The donuts are then offered to Snake Catchers at the end of the procession.

Look how clever this girl is holding the basket perfectly balanced on her head!

We thank our good friend Francesco Sabatini, the Bagpiper for his beautiful story! Thank you also to Arch. Italo Iacobucci who made these very interesting pictures.

Francesco Sabatini, the Bagpiper, relaxes after performing in Cocullo

If you want to contact Francesco Sabatini for more information about his passion for Bagpipes (he is one of the very few who still hand makes bagpipes, in his lab, from scratch) you may email: sabatinifrancesco@hotmail.it