A SICILIAN PILGRIMAGE. SHOCKING SUPERSTITION.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 7128, 4 May 1891, Page 4

A SICILIAN PILGRIMAGE. SHOCKING SUPERSTITION.

The Biitish Vice-Consul at Messina mentions a ehai acteristie example of a Sicilian pilgrimage v t a mountain town about fifty miles from Messina there is a testo in September called the Maddona of the Chain (Madonna della Catena) If a man is dangerously ill, or in trouble, or in love or for whatever reason it may be, he vows to go for one, two, three, or four years on [ the pilaji image of the '' Madonna della J Catena." The devotees strip tbem- 1 selves of all but a cloth about their loms. They have in their hands soft p.eces of pithy wood called sfena, about the diameter of a peuuy piece, through which are stuck ftoin forty to fifty pins, their points projecting oneoigh'h of au iuch r J he procession starts from the town to the cb.\pel ot the Madonna della Catena, about foui' miles distant, I he men stab themselves with these pins on the shoulder, breast, thighs, and legs, shouting all the time, the women encoui aging them with wine and bread and a priest leads the way with a banner. When the Vicp Consul saw this theie were over 100 men in the procession, and •he stabs given over and over a«?ain on the same spots caused honible bleeding tumors, and two deaths occutred. I he women who have made vows pass their tongues upon the ground through every impurity from the church door to the high altar. The men, it is said, never bieak a vow when tnado under the sense of religion.