L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS T h e 1 3 t h o f D e c e m b e r i s a s p e c i a l d a y across the coun- t r y , w h e r e t h e cult and worship of Santa Lucia is very alive. It is a d a y t h a t f e e l s a l o t l i k e C h r i s t m a s a l r e a d y : t h e bright blue skies of Decem- ber, the snow on the Alps, orange peels burning in the f i r e p l a c e a n d t h e t r e e already up. Christmas lights are up and shining and we have likely begun our fes- tive shopping. Lucia is a figure of faith, a m a r t y r o f t h e C a t h o l i c Church, a young woman of m o r e t h a n o n e t h o u s a n d y e a r s a g o , w h o l i v e d a n e x t r a o r d i n a r y l i f e . O u r South is particularly fond of her, Sicily above all. Santa Lucia is the patron Saint of b e a u t i f u l S i r a c u s a , b u t she is honored across the island, where it is common to observe special culinary rules on the day dedicated t o h e r , e s p e c i a l l y i n i t s western part, where Paler- mo is. Here, for the whole day, tradition says you can't eat any flour-based food, including bread and pasta: fear not, though, there are plenty of amazing alterna- tives, as we will see. Let's start with a bit of history about Lucia her- self. She was born in Sira- cusa around the year 283 AD and she was the child of a w e a l t h y c o u p l e . H e r father died when she was very young and her mother became seriously ill soon after. A devout Christian, L u c i a - w h o h a d b e e n promised in marriage to a pagan - decided to take a pilgrimage to Catania and t h e h o l y t o m b o f S a n t a Agata, to ask for her moth- er's recovery. In her mind, it was all clear: if the saint g r a n t e d h e r r e q u e s t , s h e would have donated all her riches to the poor and dedi- cated her whole life to God. Guess who didn't agree with the plan? Her pagan fiancé, who certainly didn't like the idea of losing the opportu- nity to marry into wealth. In a n a c t o f v e n g e a n c e , a n d probably also to save his face in front of family and community, he reported her as a Christian to the author- ities as, back then, being a Christian was against the law. She was arrested, tor- tured and beheaded in 304 AD. She is, for this reason, considered a martyr by the Church. Her cult took up q u i c k l y i n t h e r e g i o n , a s demonstrated by a 4th-cen- tury epigraph found in the catacombs of Siracusa - the largest in Italy after those in Continued to page 6 The tradition of Santa Lucia, from good food to gift giving A statue of Santa Lucia: the saint is honored on the 13th of December everywhere in Italy (Photo: Naokochan/ Shutterstock) FRANCESCA BEZZONE

• Cover