Original subtitles

One day, a secret that was at the bottom of the sea

and hush-hush (wind noise)

(wind noise)

ran away

to embrace the golden sun and the silver moon.

(wind noise)

Time passed

and after nine months

like a pregnant woman

a "femminiello" was born on a rock

beautiful as the sun is beautiful

mysterious as the moon is mysterious

as deep as the bottom of the sea.

This creature, new and old together brought joy and awe

like all the sacred things of this world

that while they warm the heart make you shiver.

Where is it?

How did he write?

“Marcello Colasurdo, the man of the “iuta” in Montevergine, thrilling!”

I participated since I was a child, a boy.

They accompanied me on this Holy Staircase in Montevergine.

Our Blessed Mother of Montevergine is also known as the "Mamma Schiavona" (Slave Mother).

And we organized these "departures", let's say we used to leave the village by bus

and go to the sanctuary of Montevergine in procession.

We used to perform this liturgy, let’s call it so.

When, as a child, they used to take me to Montevergine or to Madonna dell'Arco

I felt that they belonged to me, you understand?

They were "paranze", families who sang and played

around these circles with this drum in hand.

The "femminielli" participate in this ritual because she is their mother

she is our mother

the one who created us!

She created us males and females

from the hermaphrodite earth that gave birth to males and females

at the same time

I will never forget when I saw a “tammorraro”, the one who sells “tammorre”

who made a little girl dance on a drum.

He had to test the drums to see if they were good

he used to sell them, he made them and sold them.

He took the drum, he put it on the ground upside down, of course

not with the skin underneath but on top!

He would put the girl on top, he would play

and she would dance on the drum

so it is also called "o ball ncopp o tambur"

it means “the ball on top of the drum”.

Candlemas is nothing other than the celebration of the fecundation

which takes place in front of Mother Earth

the mother of Montevergine

the female and mother earth who gave birth on that day

and during the celebration of the fecundation that took place

she brought forth that seed that blossomed and took on its first light

It is the blessing of the seed that is also of our life seed.

We go to Montevergine every second of February and then we return in September to thank Mamma Schiavona

we go to bless the seed, the seed of life.

The women, the priestesses carried their virgin children up the Holy Ladder

and with a sowing gesture

with a gesture that is just a gesture

they blessed from the head touching up to the genitals of both the little virgin boy and girl

and with a sowing gesture they threw it to the Great Mother.

It is said "And also the seed of these children of yours, Virgin

must proliferate for seasons to come"

This is the true sacred celebration connected with the moon and the sun, understand?

And it's called "Candlemas, Candlemas summer in and winter out

everything for you is done, Mamma Schiavona".

When Jesus Christ was presented to the temple

the Church initiated the virgins and the virginal Jesus to the priests of the temple

that's why the virgins are mentioned

but we were already doing it before that!

I want to show you something, I always have it here

about how Christianity has taken a lot from the pre-Christian.

Look at this, this is the Partenope mermaid, you see?

Parthenius, Parthenos, Virgin!

This is the Partenope mermaid, who is a griffin

and look at what she is holding, look at her breast pressing for milk!

You see the mermaid and you see this Madonna: it's the same thing, with breasts!

It's a transition from pre-Christianity to Christianity.

I boldly restored the Holy Ladder that was no longer being climbed.

I put on a shawl as well!

This shawl was given to me by a lady, a woman climbing the Holy Ladder.

She said "you, who could be my son outside of sin I can't take this anymore, you have to do it!"

She put it on me and now I'm wearing this and woe if I lose it!

It's like my mother gave it to me!

She used to sing, she was a "cantatora" who walked the way to the monastery on her knees.

I said "ma'am I'll do it for you too!"

Every time I go up there, I'll do it for you too, don't worry

And so it was!

Sister, Madonna!

Schiavona!

Schiavona!

Tell me what are you doing, here in the chapel?

Candlemas, Candlemas

Summer inside, winter outside

We can do everything for You, Mamma Schiavona

I said "this Holy Staircase must be climbed" because it was no longer being used.

and I had the courage to do it, when the other abbot was there.

He wanted to stop me but I studied the history:

he sent the police against women who were climbing the Holy Ladder in the 1950s.

And I said "Don't do this! Those were our moms, our grandmas, don't do that anymore!"

Call the police!

I want to see where the sin is, where is the blasphemy

This day is ours, it's everyone's day!

I let him know, I said: "I like confrontation you have to tell me where the sin is!"

You have to tell me why we don't have to invoke our “Schiavona”, why are we bothering you?

It's Carnival time and when we arrive up here and say "this celebration is all for you"

I put on a mask I put on make-up in order to look better in front of you

you Madonna, you Mother, you Great Mother

and I do it to show respect!

And so be it!

The abbot was blocking me, and I said:

"No, you cannot block me"

not because I am Colasurdo

but because we come here with devotion and you cannot shut up the prayer with silence

you cannot tell me to shut up, I won't shut up!

This is our day!

It happens once a year that we come up here

we carry this day in our hearts for the whole year and you can't say "shut up!"

Even my songs are prayers...

"And when the drum plays in a church, I said: It's not blasphemy!"

That is sacredness!

This is an instrument that it is sacralised in a sacred context

The people, they can play!

We meet once a year

Bless us, Mamma

You don’t hold it

You don’t hold it

You bless us on the Earth

to those who are devoted

to the Mother of all the mothers

Sister, Madonna

Sister, the Madonna!

To the coming year!

When you hear the “cantatore” singing, making the invocation

“ausuliate”, listen to what the singer is saying

those are prayers and invocations

they are not offensive things!

For you, let's say, we are pagans, profanes

but when we come here, we say:

"Madonna how beautiful you are, why are you in this chapel?"

it is not a Hail Mary, but...

"In that wounded and furrowed land you have brought light today

with the moon and the sun under your mantle”

And these are prayers!

Oì Madonna! Oì Madonna!

Many “femminielli” come here

they come because they are children of the Schiavona

they are sons of the Mother Earth.

It is this relationship with the Great Mother, with our mother that is important, get it?

Because she doesn't discriminate, she's there and she welcomes us all!

In front of you, we are all beautiful sons

The main myth of Naples is the mermaid

and the mermaid is double, half fish and half woman.

So, even mythologically, this is a land disposed for doubles

Man is not central to this situation but the land is central

The “femminiello” could be born only around here, clearly over time it changes shape.

But I am very attached to this name of the “femminiello”

because it is not a term like “homosexual” or “gay” which reduce the person to sexuality

the "femminiello" is a very delicate, affectionate word

as if to say "I recognise in you a brushstroke of pink".

In this place there is a story which says that two people, two young men

caught in the act of love were condemned to death

by freezing or being mauled by wolves in this very place.

And these two poor men were coldly awaiting their death

when a warm, blessing and luminous lady appeared and freed them.

This is the story that keeps the base, first of all in the place

that is to say, this is a place that gives us the possibility to live, as to say, motherly

the maternal is what welcomes!

All kinds of maternal greet, even a male can be maternal

the maternal does not have a sexuality

it does not have a penis, it does not have a vagina

it is a way of being in the world

Therefore places can also be maternal

and this is a maternal place

What down there they call "diversity" here becomes a cenacle

here it becomes more harmonic

because it is as if everyone is recognised as having an interiority

where categories are no longer necessary, although they are probably useful

because in social environments we have to give ourselves a little rule

but then we always have to find a place

where we have to reveal ourselves from our rules,

even from our masks

in order to remind ourselves that we also belong to a naked world,

a world without many categories.

First of all, the “femminiello’s” tradition belongs to a very precise category which is the popular one, the “vascio”

It is the place that makes you more adherent to a thought

that, in a crude way, is called “pagan”.

It's a historical and cultural movement that brings changes

I am inhabited by many things, gays are an expression of the modern

The thing that could mortify us “femminelle” and could mortify them is that there is no historical knowledge

and not only is there no historical knowledge, but there is a total rejection of everything that existed before

I come here because of a tradition because right now I'm not coming alone

I'm coming with all the “femminelle” who brought me here for the first time

I'm coming with everything that can't be seen

it's a reproposal of myself as if I were not only an aesthetic fact but also an ethical and historical one

What brings us together, the old and the new, the pre-Cristian and the Christian

is the sacred religiosity of the ritual, of the faith and love we bear towards this great mother who is Mother Earth.

When I speak of religiosity, of sacredness that has no time

I don't necessarily have to mention Christianity or some other religion

it is the popular sacredness, a millenary tradition that has no time.

Those people have invented and created these beautiful things

belonging to the image of themselves, to their reflection

Here it is, I said it!

All this feast is made for You

This life of mine!

Hurray!

Wishes for one hundred years!

In memory of Marcello Colasurdo Songwriter, interpreter of the Neapolitan tradition, artist and voice of the Montevergine Family.