One of the most famous and oldest festivals in Sardinia is the Mamuthones festival in Mamoïada, a village in the heart of Barbagia in the province of Nuoro. This parade has been studied several times, notably by Raffaello Marchi. We find there an agrarian and pastoral rite in its original simplicity which evokes the cult of the chthonic creative forces of nature directly from the life of the proto Sardinians.
Mamuthones Festival
The Mamuthones are dressed in a curious outfit consisting of white pants, knee socks, a sort of short skirt, a red corselet over a shirt and a skin vest worn with the hair on the side. outside called mastruca, they are wearing a black berritta held up by a scarf tied on the chin.
On their backs and necks they wear bells (sa garriga). Their face is covered with a black wooden mask (sa bisera). We find masks of the same inspiration in a few other Sardinian villages, notably in Ottana (merdules, cattle masks) but also in other regions (Sicily, Greece, Trace, Istria, Slovenia, Alps, Pyrenees, etc.) and in other continents.
The Mamuthones parade in a slow dance step, ringing the bells in rhythm. They are flanked by the Issocadores who wear a sort of cap with ribbons, large baggy blue pants, a white shirt and a red waistcoat, sometimes a shawl tied at the waist, they do not wear bells, masks or mastruca.
They hold in their hands a sort of whip or whip or lasso (soca) which they throw in the audience so as to catch friends, children, young girls, etc. shouting satirical jokes. If the person is taken it will be an auspicious sign.
On the occasion of the feast of Saint Anthony, patron and protector of peasants and shepherds, on January 17, the procession leaves in groups of 12 mamuthones accompanied by 8 issocadorres. Once again they return to the streets of this agricultural town on the last Sunday of Carnival and for Mardi Gras.
Le mot Mamuthones est à rapprocher d’autres mots de la Barbagia :
- Maimone: demon, bacchic idol of the Carnival who dies on Mardi Gras,
- Mamucone, mountainous area near Mamoïada,
- Mamudine: place where there are caves guarded by spirits,
- Mamujone: nom d’une source d’où dériverait le nom de Mamoïada.
This pagan holiday is very old and it is given different meanings.
La victoire des habitants de l’intérieur des terres contre les envahisseurs sarrasins, faits prisonniers et conduits en cortège pour devenir esclaves des bergers.
Ou bien, il pourrait remonter à un rituel de la civilisation des nuraghes en honneur d’un Dieu agricole pastoral.
Or, to a rite of placing under the yoke of the ox.
D’autres interprétations relient cette fête aux rituels de fertilité dionysiaques comme dans d’autres civilisations méditerranéennes.
Il y a ceux qui voient dans le masque des Mamuthones l’effigie d’un esprit démoniaque.
