we met men or lads, each carrying a large coiled serpent in his hands to the Piazza, whence at mid-day the great procession starts. We had already made the acquaintance of the Archpriest, Don Loreto Marchione, a courteous and cultivated gentleman, and a native of Cocullo, who promised every facility for taking photographs of the procession. It was well to ask leave for this, as, a few years ago, a distinguished Italian artist attended this festival in company with Don Antonio De Nino, the collector of Abruzzi folk-lore (who was here again this year without the artist), and had taken one or two snapshots of the procession, when a shower of rain came on, and the unlucky artist had to run for his life, the enraged peasants asserting that he had insulted the Saint, who had shown his wrath by sending the rain.
This year, however, there was no sign of rain. A blazing sun overhead lit up the bright new costumes of the women, the picturesque cloaks and sashes of the men and the uniforms of the soldiers, against the background of grey old houses, with the snow-tipped hills above; and all the folk were in the best and friendliest of tempers.
The procession started from the Piazza Santa Maria. First came some peasant women of Cocullo, rosary in hand, each carrying a gigantic candle, gaily painted, before the life-sized statue of the Redeemer, borne on the shoulders of four men. Then more women with candles, followed by the statues of S. Anthony the Hermit, the Madonna, S. Roch with his dog, each followed by a double line of candle-bearing women. Next, after a longer procession of pilgrims, walked the band of musicians—musical genius is innate in the Abruzzi folk, and especially in the district round Cocullo—playing their best for S. Domenico. Then came the Serpari carrying the coils of live serpents round neck and arm and in their bare hands, before the statue of S. Domenico, who with pastoral staff in one hand and his mule-shoe in the other, was borne, like the preceding saints, shoulder high by four men, who much prize this coveted honour. On each carrying-pole is hung a large ring-shaped bread loaf, which afterwards becomes the property of the bearer.
