L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano M u c h o f o u r heritage and o l d t r a d i - t i o n s a r e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h s p e c i f i c m o m e n t s o f the liturgic calendar: once upon a time, religion and the natural passing of seasons were all people needed to k e e p t r a c k o f d a y s a n d months. As a time of reflec- tion and meditation leading to Easter, the most important Christian festivity, Lent has always been full of events, even if it was - and still is, for those who believe - a moment largely dedicated to contri- tion and prayer. Today, religious practices aren't as preponderant as they used to be but our Lent habits and lore remain. For instance, many Ital- ians still refrain from eating meat during Lent, or at least, on Lent Fridays. The idea of relinquishing meat during the 40 days before Easter connects with that of spend- ing this time focusing on the s p i r i t u a l r a t h e r t h a n t h e physical: abstaining from eat- i n g m e a t i s m e n t i o n e d already in the Old Testament as a tool for penance because meat was considered a delica- cy. Giving it up during Lent s y m b o l i z e d o u r w i s h t o cleanse through meditation and be ready for a new begin- ning. But what perhaps is more interesting to us today is the form meat-free Fridays would take our tables: in m y h o u s e , i v e n e r d ì d i Quaresima were all about peas with boiled eggs, tuna, a n d t o m a t o s a u c e , stoccafisso with potatoes and olives or with potatoes and tomatoes, or scrambled eggs w i t h t o m a t o e s a n d b a s i l , served with plenty of bread. Typical of the mountain areas of Italy was also polenta con- cia, heartwarming polenta e n r i c h e d w i t h b u t t e r a n d cheese. In Sicily, pasta con le s a r d e w o u l d b e a F r i d a y must. Speaking of pasta, in Apu- lia, there was a habit of not grating cheese on it during Lent. That didn't mean, how- ever, that you wouldn't use the cheese grater for 40 days: instead of parmigiano o r p e c o r i n o , y o u ' d c o v e r your spaghetti or penne with breadcrumb, which of course y o u n e e d e d t o m a k e b y t r a n s f o r m i n g s t a l e b r e a d into crumbs. So, on Ashes Wednesday, Apulians would take their cheese graters, used all year round to grate delightfully decadent cheese, and pass a flame on it to clean it: a gesture symboliz- ing the cleansing action of Lent on people's souls, just like that of fire on objects. The cheese grater, now puri- fied, could then be used to make breadcrumbs for all the pasta you'd have during Lent. Some of our traditions are definitely more theatrical than others. In many parts o f I t a l y , e s p e c i a l l y i n the South, Lent is often rep- r e s e n t e d b y a l a r g e r a g d o l l , d r e s s e d l i k e a n e l d e r l y w o m a n a n d adorned with jewelry made with dried fruits and nuts. Lovingly - or perhaps not so much - known as la Vecchia, the old lady, the raggedy mannequin is often set on fire as an act of communal purification. The tradition in i t s e l f , m a n y o f y o u h a v e probably already noticed, finds its roots well into the pagan past of the peninsula, when symbols of the cold season were destroyed and purified with fire, to prepare the earth and the communi- ty for the coming of Spring. Indeed, fire rituals such as these are common also at the beginning of the year. In the village of Irsina, in the Matera province of Basilica- ta, seven dolls dressed in black make their appearance around town, with one dis- a p p e a r i n g e v e r y S u n d a y until Easter. In Salento, the old lady is known as Carem- m a ( f r o m t h e F r e n c h f o r Lent, Carème): she holds yarn and a spindle in her right hand and an orange with seven feathers stuck in it in the left, each for every Sunday between then and Easter. At the end of each week, one feather is removed and, with it, also a fraction of the community's pain and s o r r o w . M a n y h i s t o r i a n s a s s o c i a t e t h e f i g u r e o f t h e C a r e m m a w i t h t h e a n c i e n t R o m a n O s c i l l a , already mentioned by Virgil i n h i s G e o r g i c s , w a x f i g - u r i n e s t h a t w e r e h u n g t o trees as a way to obtain the gods' protection on crops. Others, on the other hand, think she is very reminiscent of Clotho, one of the three Fates - or Parcae to say it in Latin - whose duty was that of spinning the thread of human life from her distaff onto her spindle. In Naples, the beginning of Lent was once marked by t h e C a r n e v a l e a c a v a l l o della Vecchia, "Carnival rid- i n g t h e O l d L a d y " w h e r e Carnevale was represented by a Pulcinella with long f a k e l e g s , s i t t i n g o n t h e s h o u l d e r s o f a n e l d e r l y w o m a n , L e n t . T h e f i g u r e w a l k e d a r o u n d t h e c i t y ' s s t r e e t s a n d d a n c e d a w k - w a r d l y , t o s y m b o l i z e t h e hardships of penitence typi- cal of this time of the year. The idea was that of pictur- ing each person's struggle a g a i n s t s i n a n d e v i l ; t h e whole thing was akin to an itinerant theater pantomime o r a c o m m e d i a d e l l ' arte play. L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , I s h o u l d m e n t i o n a n e v e r - g r e e n , t h e h a b i t o f f a r e un fioretto per la Quaresi- ma. The word "fioretto" lit- erally means "little flower" e v e n t h o u g h y o u ' l l n e v e r hear it used in that sense. T h e t e r m c o m e s from Ugolino da Brun- forte's Actus Beati Francis- ci et Sociorum Eius, known in Italian as I Fioretti di San Francesco, a 14th-century text dedicated to the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and his disciples. Fioretti are lit- tle sacrifices that we decide to do during Lent, as a way to show our commitment to p e r s o n a l a n d s p i r i t u a l improvement. The most typ- ical fioretti usually involve food or anything we feel we indulge in too much: top of the list is usually candy and chocolate, closely followed by coffee and sodas. Some try to stop swearing, too. I once gave up coffee for Lent: I think it was 2017 and I still have nightmares about those caffeine-free 40 days. On the last evening of Lent, I waited until midnight eagerly and m a d e m y s e l f a n e s p r e s s o right before going to bed. In some parts of Italy, Lent is represented with a large mannequin of an old woman, which is then set on fire (Photo: Massimo Todaro/Shutterstock) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS Italy and its strange relationship with Lent LUCA SIGNORINI

• Cover