Basilicata is an ancient land, which still retains rites and traditions that have almost disappeared. Among its mountains and its hills, it preserves cultural heritages and ancient traditions. This is the case of the Arbëreshë culture, a minority that is fully part of the regional identity of Basilicata. It derives from the ancient communities of Albanians who fled their land, and affects the municipalities of Barile, Maschito and Ginestra in the Vulture, San Costantino and San Paolo Albanese in the Pollino Park.
In San Paolo Albanese, a center where the Arbëreshë traditions are still particularly alive, you could happen to see ladies walking around dressed in colorful clothes, hearing Albanian speaking and participating in masses with an Orthodox rite. Or maybe, if you are lucky, you can happen to stumble upon an Arbëreshë wedding. It is a real show in which a tradition strongly rooted in the local people relives. For the Arbëreshë population, in fact, marriage is not just a private event that unites two people, but a real social event, to be celebrated with the whole community. Normally the Arbëreshë wedding is celebrated on Sunday, but the celebrations begin on the previous Thursday, when friends join the couple and sing all the joy they feel for their union.
On the wedding day, however, it is the women’s duty to sing for the bride, while helping her get ready by wearing traditional colorful dresses, and hiding her hair under the keza, a silk or velvet headdress. The arrival of the groom, ready to take the bride to church, is announced by a few shots from a rifle, but the groom still has to wait: it will in fact be in front of the door of the house that the father of the bride will officially ask him if he wants her. To the sound of gunshots, the couple will go to the church, where the wedding will be held according to the Byzantine rite, which includes particular customs in addition to the classic exchange of wedding rings. The first is the coronation, a solemn moment in which the celebrant binds the hands of the couple with a ribbon, then places two finely decorated crowns on their heads and lets the witnesses exchange them three times from one head to the other.
Then comes the time of a typically Albanian tradition, that of the marriage cugliaccio. It is a home-made bread in the shape of a nest that symbolizes the new love nest of the spouses, who will share it through the hands of the celebrant. Immediately afterwards they will drink the wine three times from a common chalice, which will then be broken on the ground to sanction the completeness of the union. During the last part of the ceremony the celebrant leads the spouses, tied together, and the witnesses in a procession that sees them turn three times around the altar to symbolize the beginning of the journey of life together. Now the couple can go out and celebrate with the community, to the sound of folk music, traditional dances and typical food, in a party that goes on throughout the night.
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