THE “TUZZA”
In the local dialect, La tuzza (a noun coming from the verb “tuzzare”, which means “to collide with something with one’s head”, a term which has no Italian equivalent) is a popular game of ancient tradition in which the participants compete by hitting each one’s egg against another. Connected to Easter festivities and, therefore, to the presence, during this period, of a conspicuous quantity of eggs, at the end of the “tuzza” when the bells rang once again for the Easter celebrations, the participants began the festivities, as well as sharing the unbroken eggs in order to make appetizing omelets with sausage, cheese and ricotta. This tradition is still observed today.
THE SAINT GEORGE FIREWORKS
Fireworks that spangle the darkness and that light up in almost every hamlet of the vast countryside of Scapoli during the night that precedes the celebrations of Saint George, the patron saint, falling on April 23rd and the 11th and 12th of August, with a Eucharistic celebration and a procession through the streets of the village. Since ancient times, in fact, great quantities of vine shoots were piled up in front of the Church of Saint George, which the farmers – even those from the hamlets – brought by donkey and set them on fire together with bundles of olive tree branches to ward off rain and hail from the vines.
