Cabras Festival: Running barefoot in Sardinia

The first weekend in September is a time of celebration for the inhabitants of Cabras as the annual San Sebastiano Festival gets underway. The highlight of the two day event is the dawn race where hundreds of competitors wearing traditional costume run barefoot along a 7km course.

Cabras is a historic village overlooking the Gulf of Oristano, filled with characteristic houses built from local basalt and sandstone. This area is known for the Cabras ponds, an important haven for wildlife. The village has long since been regarded as a sacred place due to the spring water that flows underground here, and the local church of San Sebastiano is regarded as an important and influential part of the local community.

The race dates back to 1600, but according to legend its origins are even older. It seems that during one of the frequent Saracen attacks, the villagers took the statue of San Salvatore out of the church in order to save it. They ran, carrying the statue on their shoulders, throwing up a cloud of red dust. This cloud led the attackers to think that they were in the presence of an enormous army so they turned around and fled, saving the villagers and the statue.

Today the event re-enacts this historic victory. On the first day of the festival, celebrations start with local people carrying the statue in a procession through the village. The dawn race takes place the next day with hundreds of runners dressed in white costume running barefoot, a physically demanding challenge for the competitors especially as the path is rough and uneven.

Awaiting the runners is a dinner of grilled local fish, typically mullet and eels, accompanied of course by a day of celebrations with more eating, singing and fireworks.