On 17 November 1898 the river Mannu came out of its bed and flooded the village, doing very grave damage but killing nobody. The people of Samassi still call it s'annu 'e s'unda, the year of the wave, and they took that narrow escape as a grace of Saint Geminianus: on that date they instituted a votive feast, Santu Millaneddu, which is still kept. The church dedicated to the saint is of the eleventh century, and around it one of the few Vandal necropolises in Sardinia has been found; beneath the building, an early medieval one came to light.
Easter here is called s'Incontru, the meeting, and it is a rite of Spanish tradition. In the morning two processions go through the village separately, each with a wooden figure: the risen Christ on one side, the Madonna on the other. Around eleven they meet in the main square and halt at a distance for a few minutes, to represent the mother's astonishment as she recognises her son. Then the statue of the Virgin, who wears a black lace veil, is lowered three times in a bow: at the third the black veil is replaced by a white one, and while fireworks burst overhead the two processions become one. The carnival, meanwhile, has papier-mâché floats five or six metres high.
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📅 Every year, from 14 to 17 September
On 16 September Samassi celebrates its patron Saint Geminianus of Cagliari, known in Campidanese as "Santu Millanu", in its most cherished feast, called "Sa Festa Manna"; religious rites begin on 8 September and last ten days.
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