Carnival and the Rumit
The walking forest: an archaic and visionary tradition
In the heart of the Lucanian Apennines, when winter gives way to light and rebirth, Satriano di Lucania is transformed into an open-air theatre where time seems to bend in on itself. Here, Carnival is not just a celebration, but a collective ritual, a story of identity, a symbolic gesture that unites past and future. It is a Carnival profoundly different from any other, in which nature takes centre stage and man returns to blend in with the forest, disappearing under leaves, skins, masks and meaningful silences.
The beating heart of this tradition is the Rumita, the tree man. Completely covered in ivy, anonymous and silent, on the last Sunday before Shrove Tuesday he slowly walks through the streets of the village. With the fruscio, a stick topped with a branch of butcher's broom, he knocks on doors by rubbing it against the wood: an archaic call, rather than a gesture. Those who open the door welcome the good omen and respond with an offering, now symbolic, but once vital for survival at the end of winter. Interpretations of the Rumita have changed over time: a Franciscan hermit who lived on the outskirts of the village, a poor farmer who remained in Basilicata while others emigrated, a figure of silent resistance. Today, the Rumita has become above all a powerful environmental symbol, the spokesperson for a universal message: to re-establish a harmonious relationship with the Earth.
Since 2014, this message has taken shape in the Walking Forest, a surprising vision: 131 Rumita, one for each municipality in Basilicata, advance together, transforming the village into a living, pulsating forest. The solitary mask becomes a community, the individual ritual becomes a choral one. Alongside the trees, goblins, mushrooms, forest animals, butterflies and fantastic creatures come to life, made from recycled materials and boundless imagination. The Carnival is thus open to anyone who wants to participate, as long as they respect the principles of reuse, recycling and minimal impact on the environment.
Symbolically interacting with the Rumita is the Urs, the Bear. Once a mask of social vengeance, worn to settle scores and wrongs under the anonymity of animal skin, in the post-war period the Urs became a caricature of the returning emigrant, enriched and boastful, as opposed to the Rumita, who remained poor but rooted to the land. Today, the Bear has above all an identity and collective value: several Urs parade together, led by the bear leader, a recent figure who leads the pack and embodies its primordial energy. Sometimes a monumental, almost mythical Urs appears, a catalyst for the gaze and the narrative.
Alongside the vitality of the forest and animal strength appears Quaresima, an ambiguous and poignant mask. Dressed in black, with a red grimace on her face, she sings nursery rhymes mourning the end of Carnival. She carries a cradle or a coffin on her head, depending on the interpretation: for some, it holds an unborn child conceived in the days of excess, for others, the dead Carnival, buried with the arrival of penance. Each Lent tells a different story, because in Satriano the meaning is never fixed, but lives in the story.
Then there is the Zita, one of the most overwhelming and ironic moments of Carnival: the staging of a completely reversed wedding. Men and women exchange roles, clothes and postures. The men parade in make-up and miniskirts, the women with moustaches and men's suits. An impressive procession, involving spouses, relatives, friends and extras, overturns social conventions for a day and offers a space for freedom, play and reflection on identity.
The Satriano Carnival is also movement, sound and conviviality. The streets are filled with spontaneous musicianswho accompany the masks with traditional instruments, while on Saturdays there is a parade of ecological allegorical floats, non-motorised, built with recycled materials and dedicated to social and environmental themes. Wine is transported in a sustainable way by horse-drawn carts from the Compagnia della Varroccia, evoking ancient and slow gestures.
Recognised as one of Italy's historic carnivals, Satriano di Lucania's carnival is now a unique experience on the national scene: a ritual that is not just to be observed, but to be experienced. Here, Carnival is not an escape, but a return to one's roots; it is not a mask that hides, but a symbol that reveals.
An archaic and contemporary fairy tale, in which a forest of men and women walk to remind us that without nature there is no future.