On the stage in Piazza San Marco, the scenic re-enactment of the Cutting of the Bull’s Head comes to life, a performance by the Association “Compagnia L’Arte dei Mascareri”, in collaboration with the Pantakin theater company.
The historic ritual of the “sacrifice” of the animal commemorates the victory of the Doge Vitale Michiel II, in 1162, over the Patriarch Ulrico of Aquileia and his twelve rebellious feudal lords, a triumph obtained in blood that cost the traitors a very high price at the time. In memory of the attempted insurrection that was bloodily suppressed, every year the Patriarch’s successors also had to send a bull, 12 loaves of bread and 12 well-fed pigs as a gift and compensation to the Doge in office.
The Patriarch-bull with the 12 Feudatories-Pigs were then put to the ridicule of the public square with a ritual that included at its climax the spectacular cutting off of the bull’s head.