Intertwining of spiritual and cultural identity
Every year on the 7th and 8th of September, the people of Pulsano pay tribute to their two patron saints, the Madonna of the Martyrs and San Trifone, with grand civil and religious celebrations characterized by the lighting of illuminations along the main street of Costantinopoli, the presence of a music stand in Castello square where the most renowned bands from Puglia perform, and a fireworks display. On the first day, the mayor hands over the keys of the town to the patrons, a symbolic gesture meant to request their divine protection for the entire upcoming year. The following day, a large procession of the two effigies takes place, accompanied by joyful marches of the bands in the presence of the population and all civil and religious authorities.
Devotion to the Madonna of the Martyrs is certainly subsequent but directly linked to the Turkish siege of Otranto (1480) in which, among others, a group of young volunteer pulsanesi perished in defense of Christianity and the Puglian coasts led by Giovanni Antonio De Falconibus, son of Marino, the feudal lord of the Terra di Pulsano and promoter of the construction of the castle. On May 12, 2013, Pope Francis canonized the 813 martyrs of Otranto, and since the following September, in our mother church, a relic consisting of a piece of bone from one of the martyrs inserted in a wooden case, donated by the bishop of Otranto, a city twinned with Pulsano, has been permanently preserved.
The cult of San Trifone, a goose herder from Asia Minor killed during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Decius (250 AD), spread in Pulsano following his benevolent intercession for the population which was overwhelmed by an epidemic between the end of 1810 and the beginning of 1812, causing hundreds of deaths. In reality, the idea of invoking Trifone as a protector originated from a significant group of individuals from the lower Salento region who resided in the village during that period to carry out agricultural activities related to the production of oil, tobacco, and cotton, and who already venerated the saint in their native towns.
