Bovine dermatitis: no oxen for Saint Efisio. The saint was carried on shoulders, then by van to Nora.
The Arciconfraternita del Gonfalone's Plan B is official due to concerns over new virus outbreaks. A section of the transparent cabin, already used during the Covid emergency, is also planned.Video di Massimiliano Rais
On his shoulders from the little church of Stampace to the Cagliari exit , on Viale La Plaia. Then Sant'Efisio will be loaded onto a transparent cabin (the same one used six years ago to dissolve the vote during the pandemic), then transported by van to Nora, to the site of his martyrdom .
Here is the plan B of the Archconfraternity of the Gonfalone (agreed with the Superintendency) decided on Wednesday at dinner time, less than 48 hours before the great May Day celebrations, after the Region and the Local Health Authority stopped the use of oxen due to the alarm over bovine dermatitis .
Therefore, as initially feared, no oxen will be used for the second part of the pilgrimage, from Capoterra to Pula and on to Nora, even though the ban (according to the rules of the 50-kilometer surveillance zone for the outbreak of bovine dermatitis) only affected Cagliari and not the other places of martyrdom.
"If there can't be oxen in Cagliari, it's better to have a procession that doesn't include them at all," is one of the arguments with which the majority of the Archconfraternity justified their decision.