Festa della santa Agata

This past week was the Saint Agatha festival in Catania (that I mentioned earlier). It is the biggest festival in Sicily all year and one of the biggest religious festivals around. It goes on for about half a week and includes lots of parades and fireworks. On Thursday night, the biggest event- the parading out of the relics of Saint Agatha- occurs. Lots and lots of people fill the streets, many of them dressed in white robes. The "devotees" carry around these giant 4' tall, almost 1' wide candles and take breaks to line the way for Saint Agatha. All of the students at the Centro went with our RA, Alan, to see the happenings. It was really amazing and a little overwhelming with all of the candles and the people. Usually, a few people are trampled to death every year, but they are always honored as martyrs for Saint Agatha. I don't know if anyone was this year, but I see how it can happen.

See the pictures and learn more here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/adove87/StAgathaFestival#



Also, a group of us went to Taromina this weekend. It is a town North of Catania. We hopped on a bus early Saturday morning and rode about an hour out to this beautiful town. We will actually be going there for class, but we will be studying some of the ruins there, which we didn't go to on our trip. We tried to hit up all the pretty places we would have time to see. Basically we spent the day walking around, looking at the beautiful landscapes, chilling at the beach, walking through the public gardens and eating good food. You can see more details via my pictures. The day was a bit overcast so some of the pictures don't do Taromina justice, but check them out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/adove87/Taromina#

Otherwise, the weekend was spent here in Catania working on homework and catching up on sleep. I went to the same restaurant where the owner gave us free wine, an appetizer, and some drink (canella I think- it was good, very cinnamony) for dinner when we got back from Taromina. This time, I didn't think I would get any free stuff since he had given us so much last time. But this time he gave us free wine, another not so good drink, two dessert which included tiramisu, and chocolates. It was awesome. He gave me extra chocolates too. I think he likes the blonde hair :) He is very nice though. Not a creeper. I think I'll have to go back though considering I only pay like 8 euro total for dinner which includes a whole pizza, water (always bottled), two desserts, two drinks, and chocolates. It's hard to beat :) Anyways, till the next post- peace and prayers, Allison