San Salvatore Cabras
a race in barefeet.
The village
of San Salvatore emerges in the Sinis peninsula in the
Cabras region. Great plains surrounded by lagoons and hills overlooked by the
Nuraghi and enriched by the city of Tharros in the
scenery which surrounds the suggestive manifestation which takes place between
the end of August and the first Sunday of September, the day on which the
manifestation concludes in honour of S. Salvatore there where the “Corsa degli
Scalzi” is held. The Santuario dates 1780 (as
recorded in Chronicles kept in the parish church of Cabras). In ancient times
it was of normal procedure for the statue of S. Salvatore to be carried from
Cabras to the Santuario by the faithful in barefoot. In the present century the
re-living of this manifestation regained importance in correspondence with the
growing number of people desiring to participate in the actual carrying of the
statue increased. The participants in barefoot commence this immense procession
in front of the Chiesa Maggiore di Cabras from where a cortege of women in
local costume raise the statue and solemnly conduct it to the village
church where the religious rites
continue for a further nine days. The actual race takes place at dawn on the
first Saturday of September when the statue is handed over to the runners who
transport it to the village Santuario. The same ritual is again performed on
the following Sunday retracing the same route to conclude at the entrance of
the village where the crowd gives life to an enthusiastic procession which
terminates in the forecourt of S. Maria Assunta church. The significance of the
race is that of a good omen for the crops, fishing and fertility of the
animals.