As the early-morning church bells announce Sveti (Saint) Roko's day, the villagers of Sutivan gather outside his ancient limestone church overlooking the community and sea below. Inside, people fill the pews, some crowding about Sveti Roko's statue, which has been removed from behind the altar. People touch, kiss, and place flowers upon the statue. Near the altar, the priest hears confession. A woman goes among the congregation trying to hush the murmur, but there seems to be too much excitement.
As the chant about Sveti Roko's life story ceases, the congregation begins old Croatian hymns in the Chakavian dialect. The Saint is brought from the church on the shoulders of four barefoot and solemn young men. With the banner of Saint Teresa and children leading the way, the processional starts down the long, cypress-lined cobblestone path to the village church below. The path has much meaning for villagers, for it will someday be the last processional path for each of them. Funeral processions take the same route, only in reverse direction, to the cemetery.
Over half the villagers join the procession as it winds through the village and along the quay to the "Great Church" on the waterfront. The choir from Postira, a more traditional village, leads the way, and the villagers move along in song. On this August morning, they move past surprised tourists gazing from balconies and beaches. There had been no prior announcement of the event, and few tourists make the effort to come and see the procession. This is an event for the villagers: It is their tradition, and they are not promoting or even sharing it with the tourists. This celebration, like their lives and the life of the community, they keep separate. There seemingly are two worlds here as the processional passes tourists swimming in the sea.
Sveti Roko, protector from pestilence and plague, is the villagers' patron saint. Some believe that in a 1635 plague (or maybe it was the plague of 1784?) Sveti Roko drove the plague from the village and threw it into Likva Cove, whereupon the sea rose six meters. The villagers pray, "Blessed Saint Roko, please humble yourself so as to protect us from the plague." Through the years, Sveti Roko became the guardian for the village's men at sea; prayers through him will also end the June-August drought, bring rain for the vineyards, and assure a good grape harvest and wine year.
A week later, a smaller procession returns the statue to his church. It had rained two days before and would continue to rain every few days in the weeks that followed.
Like other traditional activities, this procession is now smaller than in former years. Before World War II, people from other inland island villages in Brac often made barefoot pilgrimages to participate in Sutivan's Saint Roko Day. Nevertheless, in this recent procession, three of the young men who carried the statue belonged to the communist youth league.
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