Territorial Abbey and Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Polsi

The arches, resting on solid pillars, have been magnificently stuccoed by local craftsmen, while the scenes painted around the walls describe the life and miracles of the Virgin Mary.

[4] The original statue of the Madonna was carved in tufa by a Sicilian artist in the 16th century and is coloured, with staring black and white eyes which follow the viewer.

The golden crowns were first placed on the heads of the Madonna and Child in 1860, when the father superior, Domenico Fera, to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the statue in the Sanctuary in 1560.

They have found pinakes or votive clay artefacts manufactured in pre-Roman times by settlers from the nearby Hellenic colony of Locri, that indicate the existence of a female fertility cult associated with Persephone.

Many elements date back to pagan rites from the ancient Magna Græcia culture, the bases of which are still evident in the soul and language of Calabria – older people in the villages around the sanctuary still speak Griko.

Until not very long ago, when the statue of Our Lady was taken out in procession, grain and flowers used to be thrown around it; this is considered one of the many pagan residues of the old cult of Demetra and Persephone, a symbol of the link between human fertility and that of the earth.

[2] During these last years church authorities have required several substantial changes in the religious practices and traditional devotions, in an attempt to level and normalize all manifestations of popular belief.

It was more a great religious bacchanal, a Dionysian feast, to which people flocked as to a giant picnic in the mountains, ate, perhaps prayed a little and especially where one danced, according to Francesco Perri in his book ‘Enough of Dreams’ in 1929.

And over all that multiple discordant din that boomed like the surf of the sea rose a mingled music of pipes, harmonicas, violins, guitars and Basque tambourines.”[6] Those who attended the festival remained by the sanctuary for a few days.

[11] Bosses from outside Calabria, from as far as Canada and Australia, regularly attend the fall meetings at the Sanctuary of Polsi,[10] an indication that the 'ndrine around the world perceive themselves as being part of the same collective entity.