L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano W ho does- n't love a s l i c e o f p a n e t - t o n e a t Christmas? The festive, but- tery cake may have Milanese roots, but today is famous and loved around the world, so we can really say that it has become an international sta- ple of the season. There is something, how- ever, related to panettone that is usual - at least for the time being - only in Milan and its surroundings: keeping a slice from Christmas Day to eat on the 3rd of February, when the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Blaise. To understand why, we need to look at the rituality and cult of Saint Blaise him- self, whom we call "Biagio" in Italian. Blaise of Sebaste was a physician and bishop of Sebastea (modern day Sivas) then in Armenia, today in Turkey. He died a martyr on the 3rd of February 316 AD, which makes him one of the early saints of Catholicism. His hagiography tells us that, one day when he was still a practicing doctor, he saved the life of a child who was choking on a fishbone by giv- ing him a large piece of bread - the soft, inner part of it, what we call in Italian "molli- ca" - which dislodged the f i s h b o n e f r o m t h e c h i l d ' s throat. Because of this, San Biagio is the patron saint of all ENT doctors, and the pro- tector of our throat, nose and ears. This is why, traditionally, priests bless people's throats on the 3rd of February: to honor Biagio and his work as a saint and as a doctor. But what's the story with San Biagio and panet- tone? W e l l , i n M i l a n a n d i t s province people say that eat- i n g a p i e c e o f p a n e t t o n e saved from Christmas on the morning of San Biagio's day protects the throat, just like a blessing, and here is why. Milanese traditions tell us that, once upon a time, a woman brought a panettone to be blessed to a friar called Desiderius. We were only a h a n d f u l o f d a y s b e f o r e C h r i s t m a s , a n d B r o t h e r Desiderius was very busy, so he asked the woman to leave the panettone with him, and return in a few days to collect it and enjoy it during the fes- tivities. But time passed, and so did Christmastime, with- out the gentle lady returning f o r h e r c a k e . B r o t h e r Desiderius waited and wait- ed, until he decided she prob- ably had forgotten about her blessed panettone, so he … a t e i t . T h e n , m o r e t h a n a month after Christmas, on the morning of the 3rd of F e b r u a r y , t h e w o m a n r e t u r n e d a s k i n g f o r h e r p a n e t t o n e . B r o t h e r Desiderius was mortified and was about to bring her the empty box where the cake once had been, when he real- ized that another panettone, twice as large as the original o n e , h a d a p p e a r e d i n i t s stead: a miracle attributed to San Biagio, which was cele- brated, back then already, on t h a t d a y . S i n c e t h e n , t h e Milanese always get a panet- tone blessed and then keep a slice of it to eat on the day of San Biagio, to honor that miracle and to protect their throats from seasonal ail- ments. Moreover, they con- sider the 3rd of February, and not the 6th of January, the true end of Christmas fes- tivities, to the point that, in some families, the tree is taken down on that very day. Outside Milan, San Biagio is worshipped and honored, too. In Cavriana, a town in t h e M a n t o v a p r o v i n c e o f L o m b a r d i a k n o w n f o r i t s almonds, a special cake, the torta di San Biagio, is made every year for the saint. It is a shell of pasta frolla, short- crust pastry, filled with dark c h o c o l a t e a n d a l m o n d s . Apparently, it was already known in the 17th century, when it was usual to bake a very large one, with a diame- ter of three meters - almost 10 feet! - to be shared among all the people in the village. In the rest of Italy, San Biagio is the day when we all g o t o m a s s a n d h a v e o u r throats blessed, to ensure we keep our voice in top shape for the rest of the cold sea- son. T o d a y ' s w o r d i s welcomed by all those who enjoy s n o w ! N e v i s - c h i o ( n a i - v e e - skeeoh) comes from the Ital- ian word for snow, "neve," and it appeared for the first time in our vocabulary in the 15th century. Nevischio are the soft, dry and tiny snowflakes, light and feathery, that often fall just before true, heavy snow arrives: they melt away as soon as they hit the ground, but they do announce the coming of neve most of the time. In English, we trans- l a t e i t w i t h t h e w o r d "sleet." S o m e t i m e s , n e v i s c h i o falls along with rain, so don't be surprised if you hear an Italian saying Ieri le strade erano bruttissime, con tutta quella pioggia e nevischio che scendevano! ("Yester- day, the roads were awful, because of all the rain and sleet coming down!"). Perhaps the verb derived from the noun, nevischiare, is even more common. For instance, people often say in the winter, Guarda, nevis- chia. Mettiti gli scarponi se e s c i , p o t r e b b e n e v i c a r e presto ("Look, it's sleeting! Wear your winter boots if y o u g o o u t , i t m a y s t a r t s n o w i n g s o o n " ) , b u t a l s o Quando nevischia, inizio ad i m m a g i n a r e l a n e v e e l e g i o r n a t e d a v a n t i a l caminetto! ("When it sleets, I start dreaming about snow and days spent in front of the fireplace!"). N e v i s c h i o u s u a l l y n o n a t t a c c a o n t h e g r o u n d , which is another typical win- ter expression in our lan- guage. We say that sleet and snow "don't stick" when they melt immediately and they fail to form that white soft c o a t w i n t e r l o v e r s a d o r e . Nevischio can be dangerous, too, especially when it falls w i t h , a s w e s a i d , r a i n : i t makes the ground slippery and, if it gets cold, every- thing gets icy: so drive care- fully! H o c a m m i n a t o p e r o r e sotto il nevischio I walked for hours under the sleet Sta nevischiando: penso che stanotte nevicherà! It's sleeting, I think it'll snow during the night! C'era nevischio misto a pioggia sulla strada, e sono scivolato There were sleet and rain on the street, and I slipped LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day: nevischio - when it isn't snowing yet! Italian curiosities: why should you keep a piece of panettone to eat in the new year? On the 3rd of February, the day of San Biagio, Milanese people eat panettone (Photo: Gustavo Andrade/Dreamstime) Photo 99941970 © Gpointstudio | Dreamstime.com

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