Beggars of the Vecchiarella - Alviano

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The begging of the old woman known as “The old woman” is an event that has been held for centuries in the afternoon/evening of January 5 of each year. It consists of a group of singers who go house to house and collect offerings for the souls in purgatory. The singers are led by an “old woman” who according to tradition wants to be a man dressed as a woman. The collection of offerings is characterized by a song of ancient origin that is recited at home to the sound of an accordion and which describes the brevity of life and death to which we are all destined. The origin of begging is actually very ancient. It most likely originates from the rites that pre-Christian populations dedicated to the winter solstice, therefore to the end of the solar year and the arrival of the new year. Christianity then reshaped these rites giving them a different meaning.