The Religious Feast of St. Agatha. A Modern Initiation Rite in Catania

Abstract

This religious feast is one of the most important in the Mediterranean area. It attracts a very large number of the faithful, especially young people, who live out this commemorative moment like an casual appointment with the patron saint of Catania, a town in the Sicilian region of southern Italy. This analysis shows how the event represents not only a religious feast, consecrating the annual encounter between the saint and her local community, but also a kind of modern youth initiation rite.

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Verski praznik sv. Agate je eden najpomembnejših na sredozemskem območju. Privabi številne vernike, posebej mlade, ki doživijo ta komemorativni dogodek kot priložnostno srečanje z zavetnikom Catanije, sicilijanskega mesta na jugu Italije. Analiza pokaže, da ta dogodek ni le verski praznik, namenjen letnemu srečanju med svetnico in lokalno skupnostjo, marveč je tudi vrsta modernega mladostniškega iniciacijskega rituala.