Art, faith, culture and tradition. However, at the center is the figure of the woman. These are the " Nights of Saint Lucia ", a moment that citizens wait for all year round in Nurachi. As always, the protagonists will be the teenagers of the town, as happened many years ago , when those chosen to liven up the party represented entry into society. The celebrations will be in their honor.

Organized by the Pro Loco, the Municipality and the Leva 2010, in 2023 "The Nights of Saint Lucia" will be celebrated on 9 and 10 December with the artisans' markets and on 12 and 13 December with the religious rite.

It is a festival that celebrates the figure of women: on the night between 12 and 13 December it is up to Sa Priorissa and her helpers, Is Oberaias, to light the bonfire in the center of the square of the church of San Giovanni Battista and illuminate the Night. This is the moment in which the whole community will be called to celebrate and dance around the fire.

This year, 13-year-old Beatrice Ponti will wear the traditional clothes of the Priorissa: she will be accompanied by her friends Pamela Zucca and Nicole Frongia. A centuries-long celebration, which many in Nurachi still talk about with tears and emotions.

Sixty-eight years ago it was Giuseppina Casu, 21 years old, who played the important role: «There were so many of us, the small square was packed with all the people of Nuracha and we had danced all night in front of the fire». But at that time the celebration lasted an entire year: «With my friends we went around the houses in the town every Saturday to ask for fresh flowers to place at the foot of the statue of Saint Lucia. We had the task of keeping the chapel dedicated to the patron saint of sight tidy and clean."

To become Priorissa, there has always been a list kept in the parish, in which parents could enroll their daughters, out of pure desire or to fulfill a vow towards Saint Lucia. The name of the chosen one was then announced in church during the Epiphany mass.

Stefania Murgia was Priorissa at the age of 17, in 1979: «I remember being so angry with my mother that she signed me up against my advice. Yet I understood only by living this experience that it was a very rich moment for me, from which I learned a lot." In 1982 it was Barbara Meli's turn, who was 16 years old that year. «My investiture came to dissolve the vow that my parents made following an eye accident that happened to my father». Simona Demelas was 18 years old in 1994: "it's very difficult to explain the emotion you feel."

© Riproduzione riservata