As already happened last year, 2021 is also marked by the Coronavirus pandemic and many things we were used to have undergone radical changes (see the introduction of the Green pass or the ban on bonfires on the beach). To a greater or lesser extent this also applies to Sunday 15 August, day of August, in which the Assumption of Mary is celebrated (an event dear to the Christian Churches), but during which it is also possible to enjoy a series of more frivolous customs such as feasting on watermelon, packed lunches, water balloons and trips out of town.
The meaning: it all started in imperial Rome
The original seed of what we know today as Ferragosto was planted by the emperor Octavian Augustus, who on 1 August 18 BC he instituted the so-called “Augustus rest” (in Latin: Augustus holidays). The main intention was to celebrate the Roman Empire and its supreme head, but the festivity acquired a wider significance: it brought together a series of celebrations that were held during the month of August and which were linked to life in the fields, when farmers and draft animals took a well-deserved vacation after the long and tiring work of the previous months.
In reality, not all animals could rest: while oxen, donkeys and mules were adorned with garlands of flowers as a sign of gratitude, the horses were used in racing which served as a corollary to the celebrations of the Feriae Augusti. An echo of this tradition can be found in the Palio dell’Assunta which takes place on August 16 in Siena, in Piazza del Campo. Precisely the presence of Mary of Nazareth, mother of Jesus, allows us to tell the evolution of the feast.
The religious festival: the Assumption of Mary
Just as the Feriae Augusti had overlapped the previous peasant celebrations, in the same way the Assumption of Mary took the place of Augustus’ rest and at the same time moved the date of the feast from 1 to 15 August. It all began around the seventh century, when the Catholic Church began to celebrate the Assumption of Mary, concept according to which the mother of Jesus was welcomed into heaven, after death, not only with the soul but also with the body: many centuries later, in 1950, it will be recognized as a dogma of faith by Pope Pius XII .
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