The preparation of the track begins: it is the official start of the great feast of San Giovanni
A very long month begins, made up of preparations and rituals to have everything ready for the day of the big party, July 24
The large ship-shaped trench has arrived at the home of the Stefano Campus obriere, it is the official start to the great feast of San Giovanni Battista in Quartu Sant 'Elena . And from now on it will be the days of preparations for what will be the real star of the festival scheduled for July 24th with floats and buggies, where the 7 traccheras will find place, that is the young girls chosen by the obrier Daniela Porcu who will honor the Saint for the duration of the party.
Leading a group of workers, carpenters and seamstresses is Gabriele Mucelli who is responsible for the creation of the trench. "It happens like this" he says, "the obriera shows up at home and asks me to collaborate to prepare the track. We ask for the collaboration of many people and then in the end the seamstresses for the sheets and blankets come into play".
We start by putting the structure in hand, arranging the rods and replacing the damaged ones. Then, adds Mucelli, "let's go on with the coating , that is, with the arrangement of the coarser blankets on top of which the crochet blankets are then placed". they will embellish the track. There will also be hand-embroidered cloths that will adorn the seats in which the seven tracchere will sit.
It is the track that everyone admires while advancing in procession from Quartu to Sant'Andrea and vice versa. It is an ancient agricultural wagon prepared with reeds, in the shape of a ship, owned by the obrieria.
A fundamental part of the festival are also the traditional gattò . Every year we work at full speed to put up the gigantic sugar castles: seven in all, one for each tracchera.
It starts with the preparation of the sugar flowers that decorate the gattò, then the paper stars are packaged that will be positioned around the gattò in the base. To give life to a castle of almonds and sugar one meter high and one meter and twenty wide, which can have the shape of even imaginary churches, embellished with crosses, monstrances and statuettes to be inserted inside. Each tracchera comes to collect it and then takes it to the obriere's house.
