| The town celebrates St. Anthony the Abbot with the Farchie, a term derived from the Arab voice "afaca-aphakic" Torch-beam rods). The festival is scheduled between Christmas and Carnival. The districts, right after Christmas, start collecting alms and reap reeds, which are kept indoors; then each district begins preparing cylindrical bundles of reeds tied with red willow branches. On january 16 at 1:30 pm the Farchie are brought before the church of ST. Anthony, to be burned at dusk. The next day, during Mass, the pastor blesses the fire and the bread for devotion and give it to pets in order t protect them from diseases. The origin of the festival is linked to an episode that supposedly happened around the late nineteenth century: the Facrhie were used by the villagers to create a barrier to oppose Napoleon's army directed towards the opulent town of Guardiagrele: The FArchie were lit up and transformed in huge orch by a miracle of the saint and forced the enemy back. |