\\ Home Page : Article : Stampa
Lucy in the sky
by Admin ( 17/11/2009 @ 10:26:59, in Music, linked 48 times)
In the middle of the old Naples there is the church of Purgatorio ad Arco. Under the church there's the Hypogeum, a place without areation, used to bury dead till the 1860 (in that year the colera convinced people to bury the dead outside, in cemeteries).
The place is (still today) full of skulls and bones, in niches and tombs. People use to "adopt" one of the skull taking care of it in exchange of favours, miracles, and things like that.
In the sixities the Catholic Church decided to close all these places of worship but the tradition never stopped. In the Hypogeum of the church of Purgatorio ad Arco there's a special skull called Lucia.
Lucia (probably) was a 16yrs old young lady who died of phtysis just after her marriage. She was born in the 1773.
Known as the virgin bride, she is believed to be a kind of protector of brides and pregnant women (and all the associated matters). Normally people just leave a paper near the skull writing what they want.
Just to give an idea of the size of this veneration, just know that in the church took place more than 60 celebration per day.

All the pictures in the video were taken in November 2009.

Original Music "Lucy in the sky"
Fabio Pesce
(theremin and Ewi played live with a loop station)
Effects by Guitar rig
Photography:
Antonio Campeglia