L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 T he earth is fertile again, light wins over darkness, budding flowers regenera- te dry, naked branches. In the past, for those com- munities who lived of agriculture and w h o s e s u r v i v a l d e p e n d e d o n t h e cycles of nature, the Spring Equi- n o x h a d a v e r y i m p o r t a n t s o c i a l value, because it evoked the triumph of life over death. If we go back to Greece, even centuries before the birth of Christ, the awakening of nature was welco- med by rituals filled with symbolism about the eternal cycle of life-death-rebirth, created to cele- brated the return of Persephone from the Otherworld. The young woman was to stay with her mother Demeter, the Mother Earth, for the whole summer. Demeter, happy to finally be with her daughter, would gift humanity with a Buona Pasqua! May Easter bring us the end of the pandemic From the Editor generous, bountiful season, before returning to be dry and empty during the Winter, in the months she mourned her daughter's loss: a time for loneliness, pain and mourning. Ancient Rome celebrated the coming of Spring with the Floralia — which took place when flowering reached its cli- max in April — with hymns to fertility. German people would honor the pagan goddess of fertility with rituals that included the lightning of a candle, symbol of the flame of life, left to burn until sunrise. It's curious that, at least if we believe the version given to us by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie (1835), the English word "Easter" comes from the Old German Oster. "Eostre" was the germa- nic goddess of life renewal, Spring, fertility. With the diffu- sion of Christianity, the feast of Ostara was assimilated to Easter which, from it, got its name and many old traditional elements that we still find in our celebrations today: the Easter bunny, a representation of fertility and prosperity, but also the egg, primordial embryo of all existence. For Christians, Easter is a time of rebirth, and resurrec- tion means exactly that: the return to life after death, a rege- neration after what had been, for Dante, a descent to Hell, life lost in sin. There, in the darkness of Evil, was eternal damnation, a journey among desperate cries and sorrowful souls. Hell is pain, physical labor and spiritual sufferance, fear and complete loss. Loss of everything, even of hope, something that popular wisdom says è l'ultima a morire, is the last to die. But Dante, in the most famous verse of our literature, says that whoever crosses the line of perdition falls into an infernal circle of blind solitude, where despera- tion is the only, unchangeable horizon. Therefore, lasciate ogne speranza voi ch'intrate, "abandon every hope, ye who enter" sin. There is no life there. During his journey, which goes from darkness to light like that of Spring, from fall to salvation like that of Man, and from sin to God like that of Christians, Dante saw the deepe- st abyss of Humanity. But on Holy Saturday's night, he lea- ves guilt, dissolution and failure behind, he climbs up the mountain of Purgatory, in penitence and expiation, and walks through Paradise, the dimension of purity, innocence and peace. From darkness to redemption, from Evil to Good. Dante walked a painful and tiring path of conversion and rebirth. It's the meaning of Christian Easter, but there is also a profoundly human dimension in Dante's Divine Comedy. Why do we speak about it? Because this year, beside the 1600th birthday of our magnificent Venice, we celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Sommo Poeta's death and there's been a lot of celebra- tions, both in Italy and in our Cultural Institutes around the world, on the 25th of March, Dantedì, the day when Dante's metaphysical journey started. Even Pope Francis spoke about him, dedicating to the poet his apostolic letter Candor Lucis Aeternae: "In this peculiar moment of our history, a moment characterized by so much darkness and degradation, by a lack of trust in and perspectives for the future, the figure of Dante, a prophet of hope and a witness to Humankind's desire for happiness, can still give us gui- ding words and examples. He can help us continue this pil- grimage of life and Faith we're all taking, with serenity and courage." Here, we find a point in common between Spring, rituals of passage, Easter and a message of hope and new begin- nings. Because we are all waiting for a new beginning after this past tragic year, and because we all can't wait to finally come "forth to see again the stars" just like Dante, we hope Easter will really bring regeneration and the end of this girone infernale. Happy Easter to you all, dear readers! Simone Schiavinato, Editor NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Member of FUSIE (Federazione Unitaria Stampa Italiana all'Estero), COGITO L'Italo-Americano 610 West Foothill Blvd. Unit D, Monrovia, CA 91016 - Tel.: (626) 359-7715 PLEASE SEND CORRESPONDENCE TO P.O. BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano Newspaper (a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization), www.italoamericano.org, is the largest and longest-running Italian newspaper in America, not to mention the cultural and news resource for all things Italian in the US. A bilingual newspaper which represents an historical landmark for the Italian American Communities in the West Coast and throughout the US. L'Italo-Americano benefits from subsidies by the Italian Government, Memberships and Donations intended to support and not interrupt a mission that began in 1908 to preserve and promote the Italian language and culture in the USA Periodicals postage paid at Monrovia, California 91016, and additional mailing offices. PUBLISHER Robert Barbera Grande Ufficiale EDITOR IN CHIEF Simone Schiavinato ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Patrick Abbate EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Barbara Minafra COPY EDITOR Francesca Bezzone LOS ANGELES CONTRIBUTOR Silvia Giudici SAN FRANCISCO CONTRIBUTORS Catherine Accardi Serena Perfetto SEATTLE CONTRIBUTOR Rita Cipalla CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mariella Radaelli, Francesca Bezzone, Luca Ferrari, Stefano Carnevali, Joel Mack, Paula Reynolds, Nicoletta Curradi, GenerosoD'Agnese, Fabrizio Del Bimbo, Maria Gloria, Alfonso Guerriero Jr., Anthony Di Renzo Serena Perfetto, Kenneth Scambray, Chiara D'Alessio © 2020 L'Italo-Americano Membership: One year $59 - Single copy $2.25 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to L'Italo Americano PO Box 6528 Altadena, CA 91003 Mail form and check to L'Italo-Americano, P.O.BOX 6528, ALTADENA, CA 91003 Corrigendum: in our last edition, the photo at page 34 picturing Giorgio Faletti in Utah was wrongly attributed. Copyright belongs to Roberta Bellesini Faletti and not to Paola Malfatto as previously credited. We apol- ogize to Mrs Bellesini Faletti for the mistake and the inconvenience.

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