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The trip to the land of Michael, the archangel

It is represented winged in armor with sword or spear with which defeats the devil, under the guise of a dragon. From East to West. The image of Michael the Archangel for both worship and Christian iconography depends on a few passages of the Apocalypse and some of the New Testament. In Islamic tradition - which in turn derives from Egyptian and Persian mythology - he has taught Prophet Mohammed and represented with a set of scales, a sign that being majestic, head of the angels, it also has the task of weighing the souls before judgment.

San Michel high and San Giorgio down to earth, according to Scottish writer Robert J. Stewart, are heirs of the image of the hero who defeats evil and are part of the solar myth of creation that has to prototype the Babylonian god Marduk, God the Creator of humankind.

During the Hellenistic period the autumnal equinox, which this year will coincide on Sept. 23, was consecrated to Mitra-Sun, demiurge and the creator of the cosmos. In addition, it is the Archangel Michael, whose feast day falls in the days after the equinox - on September 29 and 30 - who has inherited many features of the equinoctial of God Sun. The cult of the “most glorious prince of the heavenly army” and “guardian and patron of the church”, as indicated in an exorcism of Pope Leo XIII, prayer then abolished by the Second Vatican Council, is of Oriental origin. Roman Emperor Constantine dedicated a shrine in Constantinople while in the West the first church was built on a hill at the seventh mile of the Via Salaria. On the day of his dedication, precisely on September 29, it was one in which the entire Catholic world celebrates the archangel Michael. For Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, educator, artist and expert in esoteric “Mi-Ka-El”, which means “Who is like God?” is the power by which the flow of things and thoughts since administers intelligence cosmic men receive from him the thoughts on things. 

“The figure of Michael - says English Reverend Hargrave Jennings - is a pattern that is found in all religions and mythologies» and the lives of men will inevitably intertwined. To travel the world to right and left, also the island of Ischia offers its testimony with the two parishes dedicated to him, one in Forio and the other in Sant'Angelo, and certainly, we should not forget that in the crypt of the castle there is a fresco that depicts him. It is on days that run fast towards the end of September, every year, from 27 to 30, in the surreal moods of Sant'Angelo that men shaped and celebrate the patron saint. In the Talmud, Mikael is the Prince of Water - where the fishing village has relied for centuries to combat the threat of the sea, in the constant struggle for survival. The day of the festival the band descends from the church of Madonnella and parades through the streets in the heart of the country by announcing at a time that now is the time of mobilization and collective adventure suggestive soon will recover the looks and attention thrown between steep rocks, the views of the village and the Maronti bay. It is here, in a natural stage architecturally stunning, that scene is the final fragment of the procession by sea, boarding near the small harbor to allow the convoy to reach the coast the first stage, the promontory Punta Chiarito and then continuing to the south side of the island. Dozens of boats escorting the archangel Michael and the passage of the wooden statue painted by typical bright colors is marked by fireworks that are reflected on the still surface of the water colored by shades of a day nearing its end and greet the slow progress spear anglers along with boats with the load of family and friends. Landed "under the tower", immediately after the liturgy, a new wave of quality fireworks in the evening creates an indefinable world, sometimes intimate and introspective, where it is not difficult to become witnesses of shapes and sounds and words to describe a trip that certainly broadens horizons. Not to be missed.

By Graziano Petrucci

Watch the program of the feast of St. Michael