During the feast days, Agata's devotees wear a white habit (saccu) tied at the waist by a white cord, a black skullcap (scuzzetta), handkerchief and white gloves. The origin of the "sack" seems to date back to the return of the Saint's relics to the city when the bishop went out in procession barefoot in his night robes. Another legend recalls this tradition to the previous pagan cult of Isis. Historical tradition, however, indicates that the use of the votive dress is a tunic of penance, white, a symbol of purity, worn by the soldiers who brought the holy relics of Agatha back to Catania from Constantinople.
Related topic:
- Catania and the veneration of Sant'Agata
- Sant'Agata, the origins of the festival.
- The relics of the Saint
- The Vara
- The candlesticks
- The habit
- The sack
- The offering of wax
- Agata's treasure
- The sweets
