June 29 is the day of the Catholic anniversary in which i Saints Pietro and Paolotwo important apostles of Jesus Christ and symbols of Christianity. On this day, however, there is also a tradition: You don’t have to swim in the sea. We put Saint Paul for a moment, because the ancient legend does not concern him, but everything around his saint colleague, Pietro. According to tradition, in fact, the first pope of history would be the main protagonist of a strange legend that intertwines beliefs, superstitions and popular stories. Let’s find out together.
The curse of the sea: why on June 29, San Pietro’s day, shouldn’t we bathe at sea?
Let’s go in order and start from the beginning. The June 29th If you celebrate San Pietrothe Apostle fisherman, but for many it is also a moment in which the sea becomes more dangerous, unpredictable and – according to some versions – even vindictive.
According to beliefs handed down both by the old sailors, as well as from the grandmothers of the sea cities of our country, On June 29 the sea changes. The currents become unpredictable, the winds blow in unusual directions and the water seems to boil of something arcane.
“Do not bathe the day of San Pietro, whoever enters does not go out“, The proverbs warn. And, indeed, the tradition is particularly felt in Liguria, where it is said: “San Pé u not widowed a pe lê” (St. Peter wants one for himself). Practically, June 29 is the day when the sea asks for a sacrifice, a life, a soul to bring with it.
In some versions of the legend, it is just San Pietro To choose who will have to be claimed by the waves, “by pulling it by the feet”.
The most disturbing legend: the mother of San Pietro
If the figure of San Pietro It inspires a certain fear for his role as the “guardian” of the sea that day, even more frightening is the legend linked to his mother. According to a popular story spread in several sea villages, the mother of the apostle She was condemned to wander in the waves as a wandering spirit. Annoyed by the celebrations in honor of the son – who forget it every year – returns the June 29that noon, to take revenge on all the unwary who bathe into the sea.
His appearance has nothing solemn: it is said that he emerges silently between the currents and, if he finds someone in the water, I grab him for his ankles and drag him with him in the bottom of the seain an abyss without return. Nobody can see it, nobody can save himself. This is why on this day, in the small coastal villages, a reverential silence reigns. The boats remain moored, the children do not dive, the fishermen fix the horizon with respect and a pinch of fear.
Obviously these are only legends, part of an immense oral heritage that even resists in the contemporary era. Tradition causes many June 29 to prefer not to risk, as a sign of respect something that goes beyond any rational explanation. Whether you believe it or not, the legend survives, transmitted from generation to generation.
