In Val Sabbia there is an ancient tradition whose roots date back to the culture of the sixteenth century: the Fires of the Assumption.
Once a year, these large bonfires were lit as a symbolic gesture to celebrate the Virgin Mary and drive away evil, protecting the community from malevolent spirits.
Over time, the meaning of the ritual has evolved, but it has never lost its symbolic power. Today, evil takes the form of a “vecchia,” a figure made of papier-mâché, straw, and wood, representing everything negative that people wish to leave behind.
Along with it, small notes are thrown into the fire, on which individuals write the burdens of the past year: troubling thoughts, pain, difficult memories, fears, and worries.
Entrusting these notes to the flames becomes an act of release, allowing the fire to consume not only the symbolic figure of evil but also the emotional weight carried within.
It is a simple yet deeply powerful ritual, one that brings together memory, tradition, and the human need for renewal.
These are the “vecchie” of Val Sabbia, witnesses to a culture that continues to live on through fire and the meaning entrusted to it.
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