L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano F o r C a t h o l i c s , E a s t e r i s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t celebration of the year. So it doesn't surprise that in Italy, where Christianity and Catholicism marked so much of the coun- try's cultural and artistic her- itage, Easter celebrations are a p r e t t y g r a n d i o s e a f f a i r . From religious re-enactments to processions, from personal moments of meditation and prayer to tons and tons of good food, the week leading to Easter Sunday - which we call Settimana Santa in Ital- ian - Easter itself and Easter Monday (the famous Pas- quetta) remain a time deeply rooted into our past. Easter traditions and ritu- als change from region to region, but some things are very much the same every- where. There is the religious aspect of it, of course, but also — more prosaically — the food. Indeed, cooking up a storm and indulging in tra- ditional dishes like pastiera, colomba or casatiello is nor- mal. Of course, we can't for- get chocolate eggs, the most l o f w h i c h a r e , p r o b a b l y , the uova confettate, life-size eggs made with chocolate, e n r i c h e d w i t h a t h i n a n d crunchy sugar coating: these were common already 100 years ago and are still going strong today. Certainly, modernization and the many changes in our society in the past century and a half brought changes to the way we experience East- e r : f o r i n s t a n c e , n o w i t ' s much more normal to buy food at the supermarket or the deli, rather than making it from scratch. Similarly, the steep reduction in the coun- try of practicing Catholics means that many religious representations and events are no longer as relevant in the community as they were. H o w e v e r , t h e y a r e s t i l l important for those who par- ticipate, and remain a signifi- cant symbol of cultural conti- nuity, if not of Faith, between our past and our present. The events of the H o l y W e e k s t i l l d i c t a t e t h e rhythm and routines of the days before Easter Sunday: to begin with, Good Friday is a national holiday so you don't go to school or work, regardless of your creed. But it's especially the moments of gathering and prayer that bring people together, even if just for curiosity: this is the case, for instance, of pro- cessions and re-enactments — the latter especially popu- lar in the South: they trans- form a town's streets in a moving theater stage, with gilded statues, music, can- dles and a dash of spirituali- ty on top. S t i l l c o m m o n i s t h e b l e s s i n g o f f o o d , which takes usually place on H o l y S a t u r d a y o r E a s t e r Sunday in many towns and villages of Italy: people bring to church some of the food they will eat on Easter Sun- day to have it blessed during mass. It is a way to further sanctify the day and to give a "holier" allure to our pranzo di Pasqua. Quite alive and well is also the tradition of t h e c a c c i a a l l ' u o v o d i Pasqua, Easter egg hunt- ing. A popular event all over t h e w o r l d , c h o c o l a t e e g g h u n t i n g i s , i n f a c t , a n imported tradition for Ital- i a n s , a s i t w a s b o r n i n Northern Europe. Still, it h a s b e e n p o p u l a r f o r decades and children keep enjoying it. And while the old saying declares that Natale con i t u o i , P a s q u a c o n c h i vuoi ("Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you want"), we Italians just prefer to do Easter at home with mom and dad. If it's true that many people book holidays around Easter, also t o e n j o y t h e f i r s t w a r m weather of the season, the v a s t m a j o r i t y s t i l l p r e f e r gathering with family and celebrating together. There are, however, some Easter-related things our grandparents would have done and we no longer do. T h e F a i r o f E a s t e r Lambs, for instance, is no longer a thing. Lamb is the m o s t t r a d i t i o n a l d i s h o n Italy's Easter tables and, once upon a time, large fairs were organized on market squares to sell lambs that were then, well… killed and c o o k e d f o r E a s t e r . T h e s e days, the gruesome tradition is no longer popular, not only for hygienic reasons - in today's day and age, we can't quite picture butchering ani- m a l s w i t h o u t a n y s o r t o f food and safety regulation a n d i n p u b l i c - b u t a l s o because we've been trying to move towards a more ethical approach to Easter food. In other words, many prefer l e t t i n g t h e l a m b l i v e a n d picking something different to cook. In the past, it was also normal for friends, neigh- bors, and family, to pre- pare together the food for Easter lunch: think of grandmas gathering to make ravioli, for instance, that were to be shared among their families on the holy d a y . T o d a y , w e a r e m o r e likely to "share" the same deli or supermarket, because making fresh pasta or com- plex desserts is no longer as p o p u l a r a s i t u s e d t o b e . Once upon a time, it was also normal to pay a visit to the cemetery on Easter Monday, and lay a flower on our faithful departed's grave; however, this is no longer common, as we pre- f e r t o g r a b s a n d w i c h e s and torta pasqualina, and head to the countryside for the first picnics of the sea- son. And while, as I mentioned already, we still like our reli- g i o u s e v e n t s a n d p r o c e s - s i o n s , s o m e l o s t m u c h o f their popularity. It is the c a s e , f o r i n s t a n c e , o f the Passion of Christ's re- enactments where all the p e o p l e p r e s e n t e d i n t h e Gospel's narration of Jesus' last moments are interpret- ed by actors in costumes, Jesus included. The event used to be much more wide- s p r e a d i n t h e p a s t , e v e n though there are still some p l a c e s i n I t a l y w h e r e the Passione is represented. Perhaps, the most famous is the one in Enna (Sicily), but the most picturesque is defi- nitely the one in Matera: it t a k e s p l a c e a m o n g i t s f a m o u s S a s s i , w h e r e M e l Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ was filmed. Easter in Italy, between past and present CHIARA D'ALESSIO Children during a traditional Easter procession in Southern Italy. These events are no longer as common as they used to, but they remain quite widespread (Photo: Francesca Sciarra/Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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