THE FESTIVAL

“The festival is a playful and possible vision. It is the pleasure of living with ease and grace. It is the beauty of a welcoming place, natural in its simplicity. It is a Sacred Space where ordinary time is suspended and where duty transforms into ‘I allow
myself’ … I allow myself the Freedom to be myself, to share my talents and to overcome the limits of cultural conditioning and patriarchal codes … It is the Gift of oneself, Sharing, Welcoming, and of Gratitude that allows for a different way of thinking and experiencing duality.
It is the Red Thread that connects each of us beyond good and evil, beyond all judgment and barriers whether they be: Physical, hierarchical, of age, origin, faith, or societal roles … I enter the Festival… through the threshold without weapons or armor… I wear the light garment in full Trust.
Sisterhood protects and nurtures: it reconciles every conflict.”

Donatella 2018

A year after the creation of the Sisterhood Bracelet, the time was ripe. The intuition to create a festival was unexpected and sudden. This splendid event presented itself boldly, strong and determined, as if it had just been waiting for someone to bring it to life, revealing that it has a soul and it is SHE who guides and leads the meeting every year. It does not listen to fears, indecisions, or whims; it speaks clearly and paves the way, taking us by the hand and accompanying us to discover the manifestation of Sisterhood, dancing between shadows and light.
The travelling Festival of the Sisterhood Bracelet is an event that is difficult to describe and equally difficult to understand because it is UNIQUE. Through its simplicity it takes on a form different from the known, and it is a true joy to let oneself be inspired and to continue to learn.
Because it is she, the soul, that chooses what she wants! When she says NO, it is a no without compromise; when she says YES, she imposes herself and pushes beyond our limits. It is itinerant, changing regions every year, wanting to embrace all Women of every age and from every walk of life. She loves to wander between north, south, and center. Every year is a discovery, a surprise, a challenge!
There is pure magic in the simple act of MEETING. Meeting to learn how to be together, to create networks, to spend days filled with laughter, creativity, and freedom.

We have lived through 10 Festivals together; we have reached the completion of the MEETING journey.
We now begin a new cycle in 2025 with renewed enthusiasm.

By chance, if chance were ever to exist, after the first event, a dozen women, in love with what was being born, decided to organize and nurture the 4 days of Sisterhood. Women from different geographical backgrounds and ages (the youngest is 35, the oldest 72) have alternated over time, each bringing their own vision and talent. Yes, even the organizing group, called the HEART group, comes from the north, center, and south!

The festival has another characteristic truly beyond all imagination: it hosts a small group of men.
Courageous men who have made themselves available for this challenge: to stand at the margins of a feminine circle, and discreetly carry out a practical, caring and grateful service.

I’ve always seen the Festival as a retreat from daily life, a moment to step away from prejudices and feel freer, more like myself. After the first time I attended, I decided to come back because I truly felt good there: a very harmonious and flowing atmosphere is created. I really appreciated the moments of sharing, and I’m deeply grateful to the Festival for the relationships that were born within it.

Dozens and dozens of women, dressed in vibrant colors, arrive in remote places with cars, motorcycles, tents, campers, and settle in, filling the chosen place with their desire to connect—and for 3 or 4 days, it’s a celebration! These are women united by a desire to share with one another; there’s a longing to talk, play, sing, dance, and exchange experiences. These women celebrate being together and share their creativity in a space where seemingly nothing specific happens—but it’s full of events: music, yoga, ritual dances, theatre workshops, poetry, book presentations, sound baths, shamanic drums, chants...

Singing and dancing lift me up into the air, even though I move with a wheelchair. And this year, I was taken to the river—for the first time in my life (my legs are always a bit swollen), I was in the stream thanks to the men who help in the kitchen. I was able to breathe, meditate, sing, and play the drum at the river with everyone. An extraordinary purification. We are all connected by a universal soul, each with her own beauty and uniqueness in total union! Always with all the elements, and the Earth becomes the Mother who welcomes us.

The Festival has become a fixed appointment for many of us—the only break in the year when we don’t have to think about school, work, or family, and we can focus on ourselves. We have so much on our minds, so many distractions from life, that stopping can almost feel painful for some. And the Festival helps you stay present with yourself, not chasing anything else—even if just for a few days. It fills you and frees you at the same time. Every year, when it ends, I feel renewed, different—and it hurts to leave. For me, the Women’s Festival is like swimming in a sea that you don’t entirely know, but where you feel at home—welcomed, understood. I can’t wait to return.

Each year the Festival is different—the place, the people, the program—and every time it’s an immense emotion to go, to be there, to feel the thrill of being totally myself, authentic among other women—free and authentic sisters. It’s like coming home. It’s an enormous richness and a deep healing for me and for all women. I always feel an energetic flow that grows and intensifies over the 4 days, making me vibrate with a vital fullness that stays with me long after the Festival ends.

Women of all ages, all different, each with her own talents and uniqueness—and feeling part of one single heart. Ego has no place here; we are all in the circle, no one above or below.

The Festival of the Bracelet of Sisterhood is stepping into a different, “other” space-time dimension, which unfolds along the red thread of coral. It’s time for myself, in relationship with other women and with what is in the moment—in the present. It’s a flow of adaptability, care, and companionship. It’s the drumbeat that makes the heart and feet beat and creates energy and authenticity. It’s sharing and, at the same time, introspection—beads among others and with oneself. It’s fire, water, earth, and air. It’s authenticity. It is BEING.

When we gathered in the first welcome circle, I felt completely out of place—a little speck in a sea of women. I didn’t want to be noticed, I was so nervous saying my name! I kept thinking: “What am I doing here? What stories do these women have?” To distract myself from the tension, I fixated on the word Sisterhood in a generic way. Only as the days passed did I begin to understand its true meaning. The activities helped me get to know myself and the Festival as a whole.

I know I’m supposed to talk about the Festival, but we are the Festival. What can I say about you? You are a me. I feel you as sacred and powerful. I see you as beautiful and dignified—just like me.

The Festival gave me something to hold onto—something that doesn’t take away my struggles, but helps me face them differently. When people ask me to describe the experience, I often struggle. I can say we laughed, joked, sang, celebrated being women, and reconnected with nature... but how can I explain the energy of being in a circle that brought tears to my eyes and goosebumps to my skin? How can I explain the freedom I felt walking barefoot in nature? How can I explain that, despite the short time, I saw myself change? How can I describe the feelings some moments or activities gave me? How can I explain the serenity I felt being with those wonderful women? I don’t think it can be explained, because what the Festival gave me is essentially emotion—and emotions can’t be explained, only lived.

At the Festival, many fragments of the same heart recognize each other and give sound to the beat. A beat that resonates warmly with that of the Earth, dancing to the rhythm of the universe’s breath. In the eyes of Women, I can see who I am. I can see the sky and the sea, the stars and the mountains. We become the joyful breath of the wind that makes the flowers smile with its strength. The Festival is a manifestation of Love. It’s a warm hug that embraces us and infuses us with the strength of life. At the Festival, Women return to being one heart. I go to reconcile with everything.

Yes, that’s how it is. You offered me unconditional love, you gave me a glimpse of a new way—being among women, with women. My feeling of loneliness gradually faded. What appeared was sharing, listening, being together.

Someone will cry and everyone will embrace her. Someone will laugh not at a joke, but from pure joy. Someone will act, someone else will bring out the makeup, and they’ll all become forest fairies. There will be stories around the fire, meditations and yoga under open skies, and a thousand other things...

I discovered the Festival in its second year, at a time when I deeply needed to make peace with my feminine side. I found many sisters who helped me discover a beautiful and authentic femininity, different from what I was used to seeing. I went home at peace with myself and filled with powerful energy. That’s why I keep coming back—because those four days are truly filled with positivity and joy, and that energy stays with you for weeks afterward.

Through the Bracelet of Sisterhood, I rediscovered my cyclical nature, the wonderful power of creation that resides within me—in my womb—through which I can feel the sacred energy of life flowing. At the Sisterhood Festival, all this is celebrated in the encounter with other women—blood sisters who, honoring their true nature, meet to celebrate one another, learning to respect each other in our diversity and uniqueness. We support and accept each other without wanting to change ourselves or others, but instead, we recognize what unites us: the desire to bloom and offer beauty and harmony to the world with kindness and determination, the need to change the world through union, support, cooperation, and understanding, the need to reweave that ancestral bond of community that once united women and which society has slowly fragmented and confused. At the Sisterhood Festival, we rebuild that circle, realign our hearts to the frequency of Mother Earth, and through the intuition of our wombs, we learn to express our gifts and potential. We rediscover what it truly means to be a Woman and shed what does not belong to us, finding ourselves again.