L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano F erragosto is a typically Italian holiday, that isn't celebrated any- where else in the w o r l d . W h i l e t h e 1 5 t h o f August is honored in Catholic countries as the day of Mary's Ascension to Heaven, Fer- ragosto in Italy doesn't have only a religious meaning, but a historical and socio-cultural one, too. It is, for us, the sym- bol of summer holidays and, at once, also that of the end of summer: yes, I know there is still a month to go, but everything feels like it's wind- ing down after the 15 th of August. Kids start thinking about school, adults begin taking out the closet their fall garments and umbrellas. As a person who doesn't particu- larly enjoy the heat of sum- mer, I personally embrace Ferragosto celebrations for this reason. T h e n a m e F e r r a g o s t o comes from the Latin Feriae Augusti, that is, "the rest of Augustus." Indeed, not only t h i s d a y , b u t t h e w h o l e month of August takes its n a m e f r o m O c t a v i a n Augustus, first leader of Rome's glorious Empire and a demi-god to his subjects. O r i g i n a l l y , A u g u s t w a s called sextilis, that is, the sixth month of the year, as in t h o s e t i m e s t h e n e w y e a r b e g a n a b o u t t w o m o n t h s after our modern January. Julius Caesar had previously made the quintilis, or the f i f t h m o n t h ( o u r J u l y , o f course) his own, calling it Iulius: it was only natural for Octavian, Julius Caesar's own grandnephew and chosen heir, to claim the following month as his own. In order to gain visibility and appreciation across soci- ety, Augustus decided that, within the month dedicated to him, there had to be a day of holiday and rest for every- o n e , s l a v e s i n c l u d e d : h e picked the very middle of the month, the 15 th . And that's why we celebrate the Feriae Augusti, or Ferragosto, on that day. In ancient times, fairs and horse races would take place and it was custom- a r y f o r f a r m l a b o r e r s t o received some money from their landlords. But the Feriae Augusti are pretty interesting also from a linguistic point of view, as they can tell us a lot about w h a t t h e E m p e r o r r e a l l y expected from the institution of the feast. The choice of the word feriae, which in Latin is used only at the plural, and refers to religious holidays taking place every year regu- larly, is very telling. Professor Maria Jennifer Falcone of the University of Cremona explains that the root of the word feriae, "*fer-," connects directly to festivities dedicat- ed to the gods. From this, we can deduct Augustus wanted his holiday to be celebrated like a divinity's, that is, with feasting and zero work. The Feriae Augusti were instituted in 18 BC and were strongly associated also to the Consualia, the Roman holiday dedicated to Consus, god of fertility and soil: the Consualia also celebrated the end of agricultural work in the fields and were the begin- n i n g o f a t i m e o f r e s t f o r farmers. Undoubtedly, the c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n Augustus and the Divine was LUCA SIGNORINI strengthened further by the c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n a n already known, traditional divine celebration, and his own newly-instituted holiday. The creation of such festiv- ities was also a political act. Augustus placed himself in a p o s i t i o n o f s e m i - d i v i n e power, but left untouched the r o l e a n d r e l e v a n c e o f t h e S e n a t e , a w a r e t h a t R o m e would not have accepted a return to monarchic rule; he cleverly bypassed the issue by stepping further up the lad- der, associating himself not with the figure of a king, but that of a god. His divine lin- eage was further cemented by Virgil in his Aeneid, where he traced Augustus' origins all the way back to Venus, the goddess of Beauty and moth- er of Aeneas. W i t h t h e r i s e o f C h r i s t i a n i t y , t h e F e r i a e Continued to page 22 A traditional holy procession to celebrate the day of the Assumption (Ferragosto) in Ortigia, Sicily (Photo: Alexanderstock23/Shutterstock) T h e h i s t o r y o f F e r r a g o s t o : Italy's favorite summer day LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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