Barefoot race

On the first weekend of September in Cabras, the festival in honor of San Salvatore di Sinis takes place, with the suggestive ritual race: the “Barefoot Race”.

The solemn festival (which includes the first Saturday and the first Sunday of September) is preceded by nine days of religious services. At dawn on the first day of the novena, the wooden simulacrum of the Saint, affectionately called Santu Srabadoeddu by the local devotees, is carried in procession by the women of Cabras, barefoot and dressed in traditional dress, to the novena village. The latter, named after San Salvatore, is a medieval village located along the road that leads to the city of Tharros.

From this moment on, the village, uninhabited for the rest of the year, is animated by novenants who take up residence in small houses (muristenes) owned by them.

On the Saturday morning of the solemn feast, at dawn, the wooden simulacrum of Saint Savior is transported from the parish of Santa Maria Assunta, in the town of Cabras, to the church of San Giovanni di Sinis, where the above-mentioned village is located. The statue of the Saint, arranged on a small saddle, is carried on the shoulder by hundreds of barefoot runners, dressed in the traditional white saio, along a route of about seven kilometers.
The next day, the race was repeated to bring the simulacrum back to Cabras in the church of Santa Maria.

Tradition has it that the race constitutes the annual ritual re-enactment of a historical event dating back to 1619, linked to the numerous barbarian incursions that landed local populations. Just during one of these assaults, the local inhabitants would have saved the statue of Saint Savior by running barefoot through the countryside. The dust raised by the race would have made the Saracens believe they were facing a powerful and numerous army, causing them to flee.

Nowadays, the Barefoot Race is associated with new meanings linked to the promotion of tourism in the territory, with the enhancement of material and intangible resources, not least those related to the food and wine sector.

Update

23/8/2024 - 20:23