The famous Almond Blossom Festival in Agrigento came to the 71 ^ edition of which is accompanied by the 61 th International Folklore Festival.
In Sicily it is spring and the blossoming of the almond trees exploded a few days ago with branches heavy with delicate petals from white to pink circling in the air as soon as the wind gets up. The Almond Blossom Festival, which tree is rich island and the superb Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, was born in 1934 to celebrate spring here anticipates its arrival thanks to the astonishing flowering of the almond tree and also to celebrate the traditions table thanks to almond based delicacies that part of the typical Sicilian cuisine.
It Is Homer to tell the story of love between Acamas and Phyllis, the latter transformed into an almond tree by the goddess Athena. Acamas, son of Theseus, had left for the Trojan War. During the ten years of war Phyllis, Thracian princess, did not stop to wait for his beloved and ended the war waited anxiously for his return. Among the survivors who returned home there was Acamas, Phyllis thinking that he was dead was consumed with pain and died. Acamas was, however, retained longer out of his city because of damage to the ship and when he finally did return he learned of the death of Phyllis and its transformation into an almond tree. He immediately went to look for her and hugged her with love. Thanks to the embrace of Acamas branches, bare, flourished covering themselves with flowers.
The legend inspired the birth of the Agrigento Almond Festival that after the first 10 years of the event, is enriched with the organization of the International Festival of Folklore as an intense moment of interaction and exchange between peoples from different countries starting from folk traditions to bring unmessaggio of peace, brotherhood and concord.
The formula chosen for the 2016 Festival of the Almond is different from that of the previous edition: it dilates the times in 4 weekends (from 12 February to 6 March) and ends with the International Folklore Festival March 7 to 13. The program provides the four weekend performances from Agrigento and Sicilian groups, moments of street food, parades of marching bands, parades devoted to Sicilian carts and a music festival: WineMusicEtnoFest. Course, there are food and wine workshops and weekends in the square with Slow Food and with the Ambassadors of the territory.
As tradition, the folk groups and bands of Guests Countries, will parade through the main streets of Agrigento, improvising dances and songs, will participate at power of the tripod of friendship, exchange gifts and cards will be the protagonists of the shows (Thursday , Friday and Saturday) in the magnificent theater dedicated to Luigi Pirandello (dramatist, Agrigento, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934). The event will end in the Valley of the Temples with the selection and award of the groups that have achieved the best performance. The Artistic Director of the Folklore Festival is Francesco Bellomo and attended folk groups from Brazil, Colombia, Greece, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey.
