The Easter Arches of San Biagio Platani

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Three hundred years of history for one of the most evocative events celebrating Easter. Two brotherhoods compete in a healthy and lively competition to set up the route, with the loaves and fruits of the earth. The result is an artistic work that, every year, attracts thousands of visitors, many of them Sicilian emigrants who rediscover their identity roots here.

The event, which has its roots in the 18th century, has as its centerpiece the unveiling of the impressive ephemeral architectures, made of natural materials and placed along the main street of the small town of 3,000 inhabitants. It is precisely the community at the center of the century-old tradition that combines artisan knowledge, myth, religious tradition and contemporary spirit: large works full of creativity and ingenuity are made in great secrecy in the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday by the members of the two confraternities, that between Madunnara and Signurara, devoted to the Madonna and the Risen One, respectively.

Everything is strictly made from nature’s products, from weaving willows and reeds to mosaics of legumes and grains. Doors, fountains, mosaic-decorated vaults and domes, and even nymphs, chandeliers of date and cereal necklaces, hang from above, enchanting the hundreds of visitors who flock to the streets for the occasion. But the real star of the decorations is bread in the most curious shapes, transformed into a portal with golden inlays, or into baptismal fonts, religious pictures, flowers, small birds’ nests and even trees, the work of the skill and inventiveness of the villagers.

Each year, the aesthetics of the course are changed, while the architectural structure remains unchanged. The entrance represents the facade of a church, the avenue the nave, and the arch, opposite the entrance, the apse of the church. The religious significance of the Easter Arches is very obvious, wanting to represent Christ’s triumph over death.