Mattanza

The complex and ritual method of catching tuna fish follows – or rather used to follow – very precise rules, timings and strictly disciplined practices established by the Rais, the head of the tuna fishermen and, at one time also the head of the village: a sort of shaman who specified when it should begin and what procedure should be followed. The methods by which the tuna used to be hunted and killed date back to ancient times, indeed possibly even to the Phoenicians, although, it was not until the islands came under Arab domination that the most fundamental elements of the “rite” that underpin the fishing practises of today were firmly established. For the Mattanza is a ritual it is in its own right, complete with propitiatory and superstitious songs (the scialome), concluding in a cruel struggle with these powerful creatures at very close quarters. The outcome, however, is always a foregone conclusion and rarely, if ever, in the tuna’s favour. In late spring, the tuna collect in great shoals off the west coast of Sicily where the conditions are conducive to breeding. The fishing boats put out to sea to lay the nets in a long corridor which the tuna are forced to follow. The last nets are dropped like barriers to form antechambers that will prevent too many fish from being gathered in a single unit, thus averting the risk of the nets being torn and the fish escaping. Beyond these antechambers is laid the camera della morte, an enclosure provided by tougher netting and often closed along the bottom. When an appropriate number of fish are deemed to be trapped in the chamber, Rais orders the mattanza to begin. And so the killing of the fish is initiated: what is cruel is that, by now, the fish are exhausted after trying vainly fo find a means of escape and panicked after being injured by inevitably knocking into others of their own kind crowded together. One by one they are speared or hooked and heaved aboard.
The term mattanza comes from the Spanish word matar, to kill, which derives from the Latin mactare, meaning to glorify or immolate
More info http://www.isole-sicilia.it/english/favignana.html

 

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