1st May, Sant'Efisio/St.Ephysius- Cagliari

Happy May Day to everyone!

1st of May is a very important day in Cagliari. It is the day in which we celebrate the festival of St.Ephysius, the patron saint of Sardinia and Pisa, a Tuscany city.

Nothing much is known about his life, apart from his birth place, Antiochia(Turkey) and his martyrdom place, Nora (Sardinia) in the year 303 A.C., under Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus empire. He eventually fighted with the emperor's troups and persecuted Christians, but after a telltale sign - he saw a cross in the sky and heard a voice blaming him for his persecutions- he decided to convert to Christian religion. He is important in Sardinia, particuarly in Cagliari for different reasons: the main reason why he is celebrated with such a huge festival and religious event is that Sardinians asked him to rescue them from pestilence in 1656, May 1st.

The second reason why he is celebrated on another day,the Angelus Monday, is due to the pray Sardinians did to St. Ephysius in order to be released from French revolutionaries in 1793.

The biggest event is the one of the 1st May, and it's been celebrated for over 350 years. Every year many tourists come to see this beautiful festival which is truly breath taking, it is also one of the biggest Mediterranean festivals, because it involves the biggest number of towns which parade showing off their beautiful traditional clothes.Everyone takes part in it, from men to women, young to old people. It is a joyful, religious and cultural event that everyone should really see once in his/her life. So I thought I could show you some pitcures of it, the pictures are not mine this time, cos I haven't gone there this year, but I have taken them from the web, from the website "blog del sole"(a wonderful photo-blog, by the way!)

The Saint.

Hope you liked how Cagliari celebrates the 1st day of May!