Ciccibacco
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A pagan among Christians, Ciccibacco is a figurine with a very ancient origin, that dates back to the cult of wine and to ancient pagan gods, such as Bacchus (the god of wine).
With his pot belly and his red cheeks, in the nativity scene he is often found outside of a wine cellar with a wicker wine bottle in his hand, or he is portrayed in a sitting pose driving a carriage full of wine barrels, surrounded by a procession of men dressed in goatskins who play zampogne and pifferi along orgiastic Dionysian rhythms. Sometimes, Ciccibacco is simply depicted as sitting on one of these barrels and drinking – which gave rise to the Neapolitan expression “par Ciccibacc ngopp a bott” (“looking like Ciccibacc sitting on the barrel”), which is used to denote a tipsy person who has collapsed on a flat surface.
The choice of the two grottos is not random, but rather symbolizes the proximity between the sacred and the profane and the thin line that separates them, as well as the eternal struggle between good and evil.
This tendency to mix such contrasting forms began towards the end of the seventeenth century, to symbolize the fact that Jesus came into an everyday world populated by modest people and outcasts. Indeed, figurines depicted shepherds who were round-shouldered, poor, drunk, in other words people who were part of the social fabric of that time. That is the reason behind Ciccibacco’s place in the tale of the nativity.
One last interesting fact concerns the physical proximity of the place where baby Jesus is born and the tavern, which symbolizes perdition and moral ruin. Indeed, because of this choice his coming into the worlds gains even more significance. According to the legend, his coming will help illuminate the conscience of those who live in sin. It is no coincidence that Jesus will choose wine as one of the symbols of the Eucharist, turning it into a symbol of purification together with bread.