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by Nikki M. MascaliStaff Writer
GUBBIO, AN ITALIAN town, is threatened by a barbarian from Northern Europe. Its bishop — later known as St. Ubaldo — meets with said barbarian outside the town’s walls and isn’t heard from for days. His townspeople imagine the worst, but miraculously he returns, having saved the city which is now in bedlam due to his absence. To quickly spread the word of Ubaldo’s safe homecoming — it was the mid-1100s, a time with no TV, radio or Internet — the heroic bishop is hoisted on a platform, called a stanga, and carried through town to reassure everyone as swiftly as possible.
Thus began the tradition called Festa dei Ceri.
Hundreds of years later and thousands of miles away, in the tiny Northeastern Pennsylvania town of Jessup, a similar tradition began in 1909 by people who immigrated from Gubbio. Instead of carrying St. Ubaldo, though, townspeople carry a statue of him, as well as two other saints — just like the Festa in its “sister city.”
Festa dei Ceri will celebrate its 100th anniversary on the streets of Jessup this weekend, a week after Gubbio’s event is held.
“It’s a fraternal knot that was made,” Carole Coccodrilli says, clasping her hands together to show the close knit relationship between these two cities. “That bond was made in 1977.”
CONNECTING CITIES
COCCODRILLI, THE PUBLIC relations chair for the St. Ubaldo Society, is a first-generation American — her parents immigrated to the United States as children from Gubbio. The 69-year-old recalls begging her father, who had been a president of the Society, to bring back St. Ubaldo after it ended in 1952.
“It was lost with the wars,” Coccodrilli explains. “World War II, the Korean War. Young men were making their roots elsewhere, funds were low, people were moving — it just died for that period of time.”
Coccodrilli was part of the board — the only woman and one of four who are still alive — who revived Festa dei Ceri in 1976 for Jessup’s Centennial celebration. In 1977, 70 Eugubinians, as the Gubbio people are called, came to Jessup’s festival.
Later that year, Coccodrilli made her first journey to Gubbio.
“I wanted to find my roots. I needed to know where I came from, my heritage, this little town my parents came from and talked about. I always say I found a diamond on the planet — I went and found an absolute jewel of a little city.”
Her voice is full of emotion as she recollects the trip.
“It’s an old, picturesque medieval city whose people are as charming and generous as can be. I decided to share this jewel with people I love.”
She shared by creating the yearly Gubbio Express trip. The first year, Coccodrilli took 160 people to Gubbio for its Festa dei Ceri. Among those on that inaugural trip were the parents of Ronald P. Spogli, the former U.S. Ambassador to Italy under President George W. Bush.
THE RACE
FESTA DEI CERI in Jessup is a little different than in Gubbio. Jessup, though hilly, isn’t the mountain town Gubbio is, nor are its saints as heavy, despite being roughly 400 pounds. The saints — Ubaldo, George and Anthony — are 30 inches tall and affixed to the Cero, an octagonal wooden structure that fits into the H-shaped stanga. The saints were handmade in Gubbio and have been used since 1949. This year, to celebrate Festa’s 100th anniversary, new saints are en route to Jessup from its sister city.
The stanga is carried on the shoulders of the 10 runners, called ceraioli. The Capodieci, translated to “chief of 10,” steers. The race begins after the Alzata, or Raising of the Saint, where all the components of the three saints are put together. After the Capodieci fastens his saint to the top, the brocca, a large ornate vessel handmade in Gubbio and filled with holy water, is brought to him. The holy water is poured over the stanga and Cero to bless the saint and tighten the wood. The capodieci then salute each other and toss their team’s brocca to the ground, smashing it.
“If you get one piece, no matter what size it is, it’s good luck for the whole year,” explains Paul Angeloni, vice president of the St. Ubaldo Society.
After the brocca is thrown, the saints are lowered and the relay-style race begins, with runners from each of the three teams switching in and out. Teams are dressed in traditional outfits in the color of their saints: Yellow for St. Ubaldo, who represents stone masons; blue for St. George, representing merchants and artisans; and black for St. Anthony, representing farmers.
“There is nothing I have read so far that tells me exactly,” Coccodrilli says of how St. George and St. Anthony got involved. “All we know is they had to be pulled in to represent all kinds of people and classes in Gubbio.”
The procession is led by Ubaldo — who is never to be passed — followed by George, then Anthony. Despite the predetermined order, teams can win by not losing control of their statute, not falling down and showing team strength throughout the route.
“It’s hard on your shoulders, ankles and shins,” says Angeloni, 40. “The worst is your shoulder. You have marks for a few days. It’s a badge of honor.”
MORE THAN ONE DAY
“WE WERE LOOKING for a permanent presence of St. Ubaldo in the town,” begins Angeloni. “We didn’t want it to just be a one-day festival.”
So the St. Ubaldo Society purchased the former St. Stanislaus church when the parish closed and completely gutted it. The building is now the home of the Society’s St. Ubaldo Cultural Center. The upstairs chapel will be a gallery that’ll house the saints and everything from the race, photos and memorabilia of past Festas and gifts sent from Gubbio. The downstairs will be a meeting space and the central hub for the Society’s fundraising efforts.
“We wanted a rustic, Umbrian feel to it,” says Angeloni, who has been involved in the remodeling since it began last spring.
During the process, workers found a fitting discovery.
“When we pulled everything away, we saw the foundation was beautiful stone work — St. Ubaldo was a stone mason.
“We’ve been trying to engrain it in everybody’s psyche that St. Ubaldo Day is all year round. This helps cement his presence in the town,” Angeloni says.
A CENTURY OF TRADITION
COCCODRILLI PAUSES THOUGHTFULLY when asked what the 100th anniversary of Festa dei Ceri means to her, a key part of its return in 1976.
“It’s a tribute to our ancestors,” she begins, “who thought they were coming to the New World looking for a better way of life and found themselves in the bowels of the earth. It was that sacrifice that is just incredible today.
“To me, it’s essential this tradition be preserved, be carried forth, because it was this Italian tradition of Festa that held these immigrants together when they arrived here in the late 1800s and early 1900s.”
The relationship between Jessup and Gubbio is one not found very often, nor carried on for so many years through so many generations. Its outcome is a firm grasp of one’s history that honors a custom more than 800 years old, a fact that was captured in “Ubaldo,” a WVIA documentary filmed in both cities that was recently replayed on the station last weekend.
A glance around Coccodrilli’s home shows that her Eugubinian roots are very much a part of her life, from the photos and artifacts like her own St. George flag and brocca to her in-depth involvement in Jessup’s celebration and the Gubbio Express.
In sharing her jewel with others and keeping the tradition from being lost, Coccodrilli got something priceless.
“The happiest days of my life have been involved with this.”
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St. Ubaldo Day’s Festa dei Ceri, Saturday, May 23 on the streets of Jessup. Events throughout day, from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Corsa Dei Ceri (Race of the Saints) begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at Jessup Veterans Memorial Stadium on Hill Street. A children’s Corsa Dei Ceri will be held Sunday, May 24 beginning at 10:30 a.m. (race begins 1 p.m.). Maybe Someday will play at the stadium at 7 p.m. Fireworks at 9:30 p.m. For more info and complete schedule, visit www.stubaldoday.com.
