The Battenti of Guardia Sanframondi: Faith in Their Hands

In Guardia Sanframondi, in the heart of Sannio, faith is made flesh and manifests through a universal and poignant language: that of the hands. Every seven years, an entire community gathers for the Seven-Year Rites of Penitence, a centuries-old heritage that goes beyond mere tradition. This reportage doesn't focus on dates or events, but on the profound meaning of every single gesture. It's a journey that explores how devotion, penance, and community bonds take shape in a touch, a grasp, an act of offering.

Hands, Blood, and Silence: Faith Made into Gesture

The hands are the true thread of this story, the means by which the Battenti communicate their profound state of mind, remaining veiled and unknown to the crowd. The figure of the Battente is not just that of a penitent, but of a faithful individual who has chosen to offer their body as an instrument of atonement. The Rites are a spiritual journey, a solemn vow made to the Madonna Assunta to ask for a grace. Every strike, every act of penitence, is an expression of prayer, a way to unite one's own pain with that of Christ. It's not an act of self-harm, but an offering made with the soul and the body, in a mystical union that transcends pure physicality. Pain in this context is purification, a means to reach a higher and more profound spiritual dimension.

The Silent Story of Sacrifice

In the photographs, you will see hands that carry the weight of penance, gripping the instruments of sacrifice: the crown of thorns, rosaries, crucifixes. These are hands that are stained with blood, grasping the sponge of pins to inflict the wound, while others offer wine to disinfect, in a ritual that is at once pain and healing..

You will see reflective and penitent hands, moving with precise intent, sometimes alone in the space among the hooded crowd, other times beating their chests in unison in an act of collective sacrifice. You will see the strength in the hands that support the statue of the Virgin, and the humility in those that join together in silent prayer. Each gesture tells a story of deep devotion, an intimate and unbreakable pact between the faithful and their protecting Virgin.

These are calloused hands, the hands of simple people, the hands of sons and fathers, who pass this rite down from generation to generation. It is they, with their gestures, who tell the story of a faith that lives and is renewed, that attracts pilgrims and draws emigrants back home, uniting the entire community in a single, powerful collective prayer.

In an era of frenzy and distraction, these hands remind us that faith is a tangible act, a story that is passed down, a gesture of love that can be transmitted from one hand to another, from generation to generation. This is the true legacy of the Seven-Year Rites of Guardia Sanframondi.

Giampiero D’Antonio

Warning: Some content may offend your sensibilities

The Thames's hidden treasure

It seems that almost every day there is another story about pollution of one form or another, in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Very often our own actions lead to that pollution and in many cases we can do something about it. This essay shows just a little part of the “treasure” trapped on the bottom of the Thames but, It could be, easily, find even in others rivers around the World.

Fly-tipping is a major cause of pollution in urban rivers in the UK.

Motorbikes leak toxic fuel, polluting the river directly, oil enters a slow-moving river it forms a rainbow-coloured film over the entire surface preventing oxygen from entering the water. On larger stretches of water the oil contaminates the feathers of water birds and when they preen the oil enters the gut and kills them.

Besides, other regularly fly-tipped items such as car parts, trolleys, safes, bicycles, bathtubs and armchairs trap silt and smother the natural gravels on the riverbed where plants and animals live and fish lay their eggs.

Only in UK’s rivers are also polluted by companies and agriculture and fewer than 15% are deemed to be in a favourable condition.

Over 97% of all the water on Earth is salty and most of the remaining 3% is frozen in the polar ice-caps. The atmosphere, rivers, lakes and underground stores hold less than 1% of all the fresh water and this tiny amount has to provide the fresh water needed to support the Earth's population. Fresh water is a precious resource and the increasing pollution of our rivers and lakes is a cause for alarm.

Each of Us should feel the responsibility to safeguard this treasure, so precious to the world and all its living beings, Plants, Animals and Human Beings.

The ancient wrestling in Benarés (Varanasi)

It is just five o'clock in the morning and the Ganges is still shrouded in darkness, a blanket of fog protects these sacred waters and the human presence is reduced to a few individuals.

On the Ghats only a few worshippers , preparing for the morning rites on the Sacred River. The silence has just been broken by the swarm of a few small waves coming from the few boats that ply the river.

The lavenders have arrived and begin to prepare their primordial stations, which will see them curved in the sun for most of the day. The city is waking up and I'm heading for Tulsi Ghat, where one of the oldest wrestling gyms in the world, Tulsi akhara, is located.

The opening time should be 6 a.m., so I was told, the day before by a kind and burly member of the club, so, I walk with my rooms in the south direction, contemplating the first lights of the day that, tenuously, illuminate the Ganges, giving to It a touch of colour with a magical flavour.

After a walk of about half an hour, There are, again, a hundred steps that separate me from the entrance gate, so, I start climbing passing near a small temple just outside the gym, where a small group of faithful stood picking up, I'm finally at destination.

No one is yet on site but, time five minutes the buzz of the city rises by decibels and in bulk come the first members of the club and, a far more number of curious "photographers" from all parts of the Globe, I didn't know the place was so popular. 

The Tulsi akhara on Tulsi Ghat, is believed to have been established more than 5,000 years ago. The day starts here with a prayer session at the tiny shrine behind the mud rink devoted to Lord Rama and Hanuman. They do some stretches, push-ups and squats as warm-up before trying their hand at different kushti equipment.

There are many levels of competitions open to the students and a talented student can even make his way to the national-level competition. What is amazing is that all of them pursue this as a passion and have other careers from insurance and banking to running a shop; some are students at schools and colleges.

The wrestling pit itself is filled with soft earth refilled at regular intervals from nearby fields. According to Siyaram Pehelwan, this is not just any mud — it is mud that is brought from nearby villages and seasoned by mixing it with turmeric, curd, mustard oil and neem leaves to infuse it with therapeutic properties so that the wrestlers stay healthy, and don’t catch any infection.

At present, kushti is only practiced in a handful of akharas. Even here, the future of the sport is uncertain due to dwindling funds and the falling number of students. There is a lot of pressure on traditional kushti schools to embrace international wrestling standards. But there is still hope with people like Siyaram, who are ensuring that this ancient art of body building stays afloat.