Gesualdo: The "Vampaleria" of Sant'Andrea, the fire of tradition and hope

The Bonfire Rite (Vampaleria) for the Jesualdins is linked to the devotion to Saint Andrew the Apostle, whose feast falls on the threshold of winter, on November 30th, and has represented for centuries an act of faith and an invocation against darkness.
For Christians, light is embodied by the divine figure of Saint Andrew who, crucified on the Cross, contains the mystical message of the manifestation of the "Light of Faith" which dispels the darkness in the mind and heart.

The cult of the Saint seems to have begun in Gesualdo when a sacred relic, the Arm of Saint Andrew, coming from the Goleto Abbey, was donated to the community. The precious relic, set in a small sculpture covered in silver, is today kept and venerated in the Mother Church of San Nicola.

The tradition of fire and bonfires is posthumous to the cult of the Saint, which had already begun at the beginning of the 17th century, when the relic was donated.
The rite of Vampaleria seems to have arisen in the nineteenth century, following the felling of the lime tree located in the main square of the town (now Piazza Umberto I), whose wood was partly burned and partly used for the creation of the statue of the Saint.

At the center of the scene is fire, light, as a symbol to exorcise evil, darkness, but also as a primary element around which the entire community finds its unity and invokes the supernatural, hoping for benefits for the future (and a little of heat to warm up from the rigors of winter).
It is around the fire that popular culture, with its songs, its dances and its gastronomic specialities, welcomes, includes and unites.

With the hope of relaunching this tradition by involving the new generations, on Thursday 30 November, the Gesualdo Pro Loco proposes this ancient ritual again.

PLAN

6.00 pm
Lighting of the Vampaleria in Piazza Neviera
Blessing of Fire

8.00 pm
Opening of a gastronomic stand