Maitunate and sanbiasese games

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Traditional music and games offered for those who live far from the country

The “Maitunate” have been part of the San Francisco tradition for about seventy years. They are a song brought to families in the village from house to house by a group of singers, dressed in traditional clothing. It is performed in San Biase on New Year’ s Eve, accompanied by original and typical musical instruments.

These are just auspicious stanzas of the coming New Year.

This event done in the summer is meant to reenact the event done every year on December 31.

After the “Maiutunate” there will be a demonstration of the game of “Morra,” an ancient folk game, dating back to baronial times, made every year on Feb. 2 and 3 on the occasion of the patronal feast of St. Blaise.

The profane wine ritual, which opens and closes the sacred service, begins in a specially prepared room, where the wine of the vintage just past devoutly offered by local families is “played” according to the ancient custom of the “morra” challenge. It is played in pairs by spreading the fingers of a fist of each challenger and whose winner is the one who guesses the sum of the fingers uttered in unison aloud at the act of the hand opening gesture.

On August 12, there will be a re-enactment of the game of “morra” without wine, purely for demonstration purposes.

The goal is to hope for large participation, especially from those who return once a year in the summer and thus find themselves unable to attend winter events.