Sardinia’s carnival traditions derive from ancient propitiatory rituals and reflect the island’s agricultural and sheep rearing tradition. This is also the case with the carrasegare in Neoneli, which takes the name of Ritus Calendarum.
Neoneli (in Sard Neunele) is a village of just seven hundred inhabitants located in the province of Oristano, in the historical region of Barigadu. A village of ancient origins, inhabited as early as pre-nuragic times, as is clear from the presence in the area of some domus de Janas.
The rituals are held on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the carnival. The streets of the old village centre of Neoneli transform into a jubilation of colours, with parades of the village’s traditional masks. There are two different kinds of these: “Sos Corriolos” and “Sa maschera’e Cuaddu”.
“Sos Corriolos” wears clothing produced with sheep and goat skins, with a leather belt at the waist. Making its mark is the cork headgear with large fallow deer or stag horn, while on their backs they wear hedgehog skins and animal bones.
“Sa Maschera ‘e Cuaddu” literally means “horse mask” as originally those who wore this mask would usually parade on a horse and then take part in an equestrian game. It is an example of “maschera limpia”, or rather clean mask, because they have their face uncovered. The costume is a white shirt, trousers with ornate skirt on top decorated with lace and rattles which jingle during the dance. Furthermore, the costume includes gloves and white socks, lace, silk shawls and lastly a headscarf, it too in silk, placed over the hair and decorated with cockades and different coloured ribbons.
On 16 January (feast day of Sant’Antonio Abate), “Sos Corriolos” the carnival gets underway with dancing around a blessed bonfire and burning small kindlings of wood. This would appear to be a modern-day representation of the rituals in honour of Dionysus which were held during the Calende in January, and from where the name Ritus Calendarum stems from.
According to legend, Dionysus, god of wine, vegetation and inebriation, born of the union between Zeus and a mortal, was killed on the wishes of Era, who decided to seek revenge for this betrayal: Dionysus’ blood made the land fertile, producing plentiful harvests.
