Jerbas e Tradision

When the village becomes a temple of herbs

There is a time of year when Cercivento — Çurçuvint in Carnian Friulian — transforms into "the temple of herbs, of the past and the present". This happens around the summer solstice, when the small village in upper Carnia hosts Jerbas e Tradision, a festival that intertwines botany, ancient rites, and Friulian popular culture in a mountain setting of rare charm.

The Mac di San Giuan and the magical night

The symbolic heart of the event is the Mac di San Giuan, the bunch of medicinal herbs collected according to tradition on the "magical night" of Saint John the Baptist (June 24th), always considered to be full of beneficial powers. The bunch is blessed as protection against bad weather and ailments. Guided tours of medicinal plant cultivation, distillation demonstrations, meetings, and debates on the world of herbs and the relationship between bees and humans revolve around this rite.

The cidulas and the solstice fires

Among the most spectacular solstice customs is the throwing of the cidulas: fiery fir wood wheels that young couples throw into the darkness from the slopes, accompanying them with a song wishing good luck. It is an ancient propitiatory rite, common to several Alpine valleys, which in Cercivento is preserved in a lively and participatory form.

Tradition, taste, and community

The festival also features a market of typical products and local crafts, gastronomy with dishes based on mountain herbs, traditional dances by the Aganes group, children's games, yoga, and a charity raffle. The chants of the historic Onoranda Compagnia dei Cantori resonate in the Pieve di San Martino. Visiting Jerbas e Tradision means immersing yourself in the most authentic Carnia, where nature, the sacred, and community still merge as they once did.