The Assumption of Maria on the 15th of August is the main festival of the Sanctuary.

Preparations begin with a month of prayers, from the 5th of July to the 6th of August, then nine days of preachings and celebrations.

On the day of Assumption you can receive the Plenary Indulgence.

(Historical Figures festival of the Majo)

Another celebration is on the 1st of May, Festival of the Majo

The Mayors of the two local towns, Nocera Superiore and Roccapiemonte, together with the Priore of the Brothers of the SS. Rosary offer three leafy branches to the Sanctuary.

Religious, military and civil organisations take part in official uniform and processions dressed in historical clothing walk the streets of the two towns.

The Association "Il Cortile dei Tigli" organize the celebrations.

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THE ANCIENT MAJO FEAST AT MATERDOMINI OF NOCERA

Origins - Significance - Development

Italian Text by Raffaele Pucci
English translation by Pasquale De Maio

The old barriers among the European peoples are coming down daily as the latter are moving toward the establishment of a single world where everybody enjoys the same rights, liberties, and opportunities.

This, however, cannot and should not eliminate the diversities which are the wealth of our continent, but should instead harmonize them.

Hence the moral obligation of preserving the heritage of our small homelands, not by relegating it to the library shelves or allowing it to disappear day after day along with the generations which were its custodians, but by turning it into an yeast for today's life.

The "Il Cortile Dei Tigli" (The Courtyard of the Limetrees) Association, whose Founder and President is Mrs Anna Sellitto, is moving toward this objective.

It takes its name from the big and ancient limetrees which encircled the parvis of the basilica of S. Mary Materdomini, and, by acting as a mediator between the past and the present, aims to promote the knowledge and love of those places which are "ours" in the fullest sense of the word, taking act of what they meant to the past generations and what they can still say to the generations of the future.

Strictly voluntary and non-profit, the "Il Cortile Dei Tigli" Association wants to involve in a common sentiment of belonging not only the individual citizens of every age and status, but also the Institutions, the Schools, the Parishes, the religious Communities and the other Associations, through activities which not only embody the tradition but also contribute to the social, cultural, and, why not, economical growth of our homeland.

The Majo Feast intends to re-propose, in spectacular and modern ways and with full respect of the religious meaning, a ritual that for centuries has taken place at the Materdomini Sanctuary on the first day of May. We have a fairly detailed description of it in an anonymous manuscript of the year 1758:

In the morning of May 1st, three flower-adorned branches were brought to the Materdomini Temple: one branch offered by the inhabitants of Rocca, another one offered by the inhabitants of the Melloni hamlet of Nocera Corpo, and a third one offered by the monks and the Abbot who were replaced at the end of '700 by the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.

The Maj procession was preceded by the mayors of Rocca and Nocera Corpo and escorted by the soldiers to the parvis of the Sanctuary where the participants entered to attend the High Mass. After the Mass, the latter with the monks and the Abbot, went in procession outside the basilica where the carriers of the Maj's were waiting.

The first one to present it was the mayor of Rocca Monasterio or the mayor of the whole Rocca during the period when the latter constituted one single University; then came a gentleman of Malloni, replaced later on by one of the most notables amongst the Monastery's vassals; the last one was a monk or a brother of the Rosary.

Afterwards, while singing psalms, everybody returned to the Church were the
Blessed sacrament was exposed and the Te Deum was intoned .The ceremony ended with the eucharistic blessing given by the Abbot.

Today's re-enactment of the feast combines the respect of the tradition with an evocative summation of the life in the region throughout the centuries.

On the first day of May every year, a sumptuous historical procession, proceeding through the streets of Nocera Superiore, from the palaeochristian Baptistry of S. Maria Maggiore winds up at the Sanctuary for the solemn offering of the Maj's. Alongside these symbols of the ancient spring rituals of fertility, the historical characters re-enact other life events of the region, such as the visit of Pope Niccolo' II or the feudal homage paid to the Abbot by his vassals.

The event attracts every year increasingly larger crowds because of the interest it holds , not only from an historical standpoint, but also from a religious, artistic, cultural, and folkloristic standpoint. It is for everyone a happy moment of social aggregation and, for the people of the Agro, a strong incentive to strengthen their present identity which premises their future one.

This success give us the energy to continue overcoming the many difficulties which are encountered-first of all, the scarcity of means which is also the result of the choice of total autonomy made by the Association.

A further encouragement for us to go on is the decision allowing to associate to the Majo Feast a revival of the Ancient Fair which was held since the Middle Ages from May 1st to May 8th in the courtyard of the limetrees.

Will thus come alive again the scenes and the ambiance of the past, the voices, the attractions, the flavors, the colors, the sounds, and the noises of the Fair of then.

Today they are no longer alive, overshadowed, even at the folk festivals, by the modern lights and noises; however, they were so good, care-free, and reassuring that it is worth reviving them, at least once a year.

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