La Sartiglia

31 It is the creation of a deity. A taboo, as Francesco Alziator put it. In the morning “Su Componidori” is just a name. At noon his metamorphosis begins. Later in the day people will enjoy the joust, the swords running through the star hole, the acrobatics on horseback. However the sacred aspect of this tournament is revealed behind closed doors, away from the large crowd with just a few attendants, even if a thousand reasons would like to have this ancestral rule overturned. “Su Componidori”´s dressing ceremony is the ritual of a city intended as a private household, it needs intimacy before the public show. This step reflects the most intimate meaning of this celebration, evoking God’s intervention to grant prosperity. It is also the most mysterious moment when hiding a face another extraordinary impenetrable one comes up. This ceremony draws the curtain showing its protagonist. During the day he will be the only one entitled to give blessings. Trumpet blasts and “su passu ‘e strada” accompany the elected person to the Guild seat where the “massaieddas”, young girls wearing the traditional costume of Oristano, are waiting for him with his clothes resting in typical flat baskets. The annual pictures of the past editions show the same serious concentrated faces. “Su Componidori” is almost lost in his own thoughts. With his impassive look, speechless and thoughtful, he is the only one in charge of an office the other people cannot understand. Sitting on the “mesitta”, he gets dressed with confident delicate moves by daughters whose mothers have been passed down these gestures over the centuries; a slow calculated transformation. The person, because he is still a person at the moment, wears “su collettu”, a sleeveless jacket that extends from the shoulders to the knees. Then clothes are decorated with colourful ribbons: the red colour, symbol of the Farmers’ Guild, pink and light-blue colours representing the Carpenters’ Guild. Finally the time to put the mask on has come: his transition from the earth to the sky becomes reality. The unaffected uniqueness has been conquered. A top hat and a camellia are his last decorations. Now “Su Componidori” has ascended and is able to show up to the people mounting on horseback from the stage. His feet cannot touch the ground because he cannot get infected. He will be a deity until late in the evening.