1/25/2005: Saint Anthony's purification ritual

[Undertoad]

Not much information is available on this annual festival in the village of Vilanova d'Alcolea near Castellon, Spain. The official caption suggests that Saint Anthony is the patron saint of animals and this is the "purification ceremony" section of the festival on his official Day.

I'm not sure how a horse is purified by jumping through fire; a good round of antibiotics and better stall maintenance would be much more effective. And I'm not sure why the patron saint of animals winds up putting his beasts into a big bonfire. Seems like an effective patron saint would score a better contract, such as the Hindus have done for the cows, or the Buddhists for all critters in general.

A round of severe googling turned up very little detail, other than Anthony's appearance at the same time in Sicily. These festivals sound like a great time, I want one:

Ancient tradition has it that the saint, like Prometheus, stole into hell and brought back fire, so naturally the festivities revolve around a bonfire. Each town places different herbs and fruits atop the blaze, creating a unique aroma. Women emerge from their homes bearing sweets and dark fruity loaves of pane nigheddu, while men pass around bottles of wine and aquavit.

Wow! I, personally, am all in favor of this kind of thing. I can taste the pane nigheddu now! I'm not sure about the community bottles, as I just got over a bout of illness, you know, wouldn't want another round of that.