Sos Colonganos differ from all the others for some details, including the use of Corbezzolo plants. They wear garments made of sheepskin while on their heads they wear fox or marten skins. The skins are necessary because they invoke the rain. On their shoulders, instead of cowbells, they carry animal bones that recall death and resurrection (de s’Urtzu). They wear a cork mask adorned with strawberry tree branches. The choice of the plant is not accidental, as the Corbezzolo tree is an evergreen plant used in a variety of ways that grows in the cold season and whose production is very abundant throughout Sardinia.
Austis’ carnival mask was brought to light during the studies conducted by Bonaventura Licheri, who, in 1700, described them with the following poem:
Translated: Sos Colonganos dance around the big bonfire, with brigand knives in their hands.
They jump as if they were in a fight, equipped with sticks and pitchforks. They are covered with fox, goat and marten skins. Everywhere you see “printzipales” seized by a frenzy, delirious, like those suffering in penance. Their shoulders are loaded with bones and on their faces is a mask of strawberry tree fronds. This race of sinners seems to be dressed in mourning and is similar to a flight of demons that has found shelter on.
They stand with their Corbezzolo plant, overlooking Sa Crabarissa, a granite rock over 50 meters high that looks like a woman dressed in a traditional Sardinian costume. Because of its shape, the legend says that this rock is actually a woman from Cabras, a village downstream in the Campidano, petrified by the pain of having lost the love of a man from Austis.
Textual source: visitaustis.it
