Jul
22
Event Time: 8pm / Event Location: Perast

This is a custom called “Fasinada” which is unique to the town of Perast as  well as to the whole Mediterranean coast.  On the 22nd of July , the inhabitants of Perast commemorate the year 1452 when an icon of the Virgin was found on a small crag in the sea and the construction of the island of Our Lady of the Rock began.  On this day every year, people bring stones in their boats and drop them into the sea around the island.  The custom has both symbolic and practical meaning. Adding rocks reinforces the island which is constantly washed and eroded by the sea.  The simplicity of the occasion, striped of all elements of folklore, evokes the memory of the centuries-long efforts that were needed to build, from a small crag (skrpjel), this little island with its lovely church.