L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, November begins with "All Saints Day" on first. Since this feast which has its beginnings in the Christian churches of the fifth and sixth centuries cele- brates all those saints, canon- ized or not, who enjoy the hap- piness of the kingdom of heaven, let us celebrate all relatives and friends who once enriched our lives and of whom it was said "era una santa" or "santo". *** All Souls Day is on November 2nd. The early Christians, like their pagan ancestors, remembered their dead on certain days of the year. The present date for our yearly com- memoration of the dead was established in the tenth century. *** Clocks Of Life are wound but once, And no man has the power To tell where the hands will stop At late or early hour. To lose one's wealth is sad indeed; To lose one's health is more; To lose one's soul is such a loss As no man can restore. The present only is our own, Live, love, toil with a will Place no faith in "tomorrow" for The clock may then be still... (unknown) *** Archives in a Northern Italian city have the preserved letters of the world's first typist, countess Carolina Fantoni of Italy. A man named Pellegrine Turri built a crude typewriter for her in 1808. Her letters are preserved in Reggio Emilia city archives. She was blind. *** Baresi are noted for their devotion to San Nicola (St. Nicholas) and for their pride in the large solid church built in Bari in his honor. Hearing the inhabitant of the capital city of Bari and, in general, of the Puglia region, calling him "San Nicola of Bari" gives the impression that St. Nicholas is Barese. Many Pugliesi parents fostered this misconception by telling their Italian-American offspring San Nicola's bones were buried in Bari, thereby making St. Nicholas, St. Nick or Santa Claus Italian. True, San Nicola's bones are buried in Bari; however, unsaid was that in the XI century some Baresi sailors secretly stole the bones of the Saint from the city of Myra in Asia Minor (where Nicholas had been a bishop in the early centuries of Christendom) and brought them to Bari. The then reigning Roger the Norman gave permission and financed the building of a great and beau- tiful cathedral to house the sacred relics. Work was begun in the year 1087 and was completed very shortly. The church was the first and most important of those erected in Southern Italy during the domination of the Normans (XI-XIII centuries), the façade is simple in style, but very impos- ing and characteristic of the spe- cial "Pugliese" style of many of the churches of the region. Two truncated towers in the front and two in the back of the building were meant to be fortifications for the protection of the church. The feast of San Nicholas is celebrated with solemnity and with large partici- pation of people on May 8 every year to remember the transporta- tion of the relics of the Saint from Asia Minor to Bari. After the mass, the statue of the Saint is taken by boat a little distance from the coast where he receives the homage of the faithful. In the evening, the statue is brought back into the church. *** Almonds, traditionally given as favors at Italian celebrations stand for all good things in life, health, happiness and fertili- ty. The white sugar shell stands for purity and the sweetness of life. The Romans believed that eating almonds with alcohol kept them sober, therefore they would eat them at celebrations. Thus began the tradition of pass- ing them out at weddings and at the baptism of children. *** Xmas sometimes used as an abbreviation for Christmas is not an attempt to take Christ out of Christmas. The Greek letter X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Xristos. The word Xmas, meaning Christ's Mass, was commonly used in Europe by the 16th century. Christmas, being celebrated on December 25th as the birthday of Baby Jesus, was not officially recog- nized by the Church as the date of Christ's birth until A.D. 350, however, by the middle of the second century, Christians in Antioch, were already celebrat- ing Christ's birth on that day. *** Bees with an Italian connec- tion have been living in southern Australia for over a hundred years. It seems that in the early 1880s, August Fiebig brought 12 hives from the Italian province of Liguria, and established an api- ary near Penneshaw in Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Because of the island's isolation, all pre- sent-day honeybees are descen- dents of those 12 hives. These bees are pure Ligurian and, as such, are unique in the world. Ligurian bees are renowned for their gentle nature and pro- ductivity. These characteristics, and the purity of the strain, make them a valuable genetic pool for breeding purposes. Bee Sanctuary status legislation was introduced in 1931 prohibiting the importation of bees or sec- ond-hand bee-keeping equipment to the island. *** Elephants, not horses, were chosen by Hannibal (247-183 B.C.), the Carthaginian general to ride as he led his army into the Alps and invaded the cities of Rome. In the third century B.C., the cities of Rome and Carthage were competing for dominance along the shores of the western Mediterranean Sea. Rome had the advantage of a superior navy. Carthage, on the Tunisian coast of North Africa, had formidable infantry, cavalry, and a special corps mounted on armored war ele- phants. Prince Hannibal Barca of Carthage had led an army against the Spanish city of Saguntum, an ally of Rome. The twenty-seven-year-old Hannibal besieged Saguntum, captured the city, looted it, and sent the booty back to Carthage. Hannibal then decided to attack Rome itself. The easiest way to take an army to Rome was by sea, but Hannibal knew the aggressive Roman navy would prevent him from reaching his goal. He there- fore resolved to lead his army overland from Spain into Northern Italy. Hannibal's sol- diers were fearful of their gener- al's plan. They believed that it was impossible to cross the Alps, Europe's highest mountain range, which formed a massive barrier between them and Italy, but Hannibal assured his troops the Alps were just lofty mountains. Hannibal's army began marching overland toward Rome at the end of May, 218 B.C. The army included 50,000 foot soldiers and 9,000 mounted cavalry. A large baggage train carried food and other supplies. The army includ- ed 37 armored war elephants, whose loud trumpeting were known to terrify Roman cavalry horses. Hannibal's army marched for five months through the territories of various Celtic tribes in Spain and Gaul (France). Reaching the foothills of the Alps in October, Hannibal found a road that led to the mountain heights and to Italy beyond. The first few days his army entered the Alps, Hannibal met with unexpected danger. Climbing the steep mountain road, his army was ambushed by native mountain tribesmen who resented the intrusion of the Carthaginian army into their ter- ritory. The natives showered rocks and boulders down on the army from ledges high above the mountain road. Bands of native warriors assaulted weak points in the army's train. Many of Hannibal's men were killed. Hannibal ordered his war ele- phants to charge the tribesmen blockading the road. The ele- phants scattered the Alpine tribesmen and the Carthaginians were able to fight their way up the road to a "large bare rock". From the shelter of the rock out- crop, they were able to drive off their poorly organized attackers. By October, once one mountain peak was surmounted, another snowy peak rose into view. Hannibal led his freezing army forward. Where the climb was covered in ice, he had steps cut with chisels... Finally, at the snow covered summit of a high pass, Hannibal looked ahead and saw the fertile valleys of northern Italy in the distance. He pointed to the green valleys to show his army that their goal was within reach. The steep descent from the Alps was the final hazard to be overcome by the Carthaginian Army. After fifteen days in the Alps, Hannibal finally reached Italy with two-thirds of this origi- nal army. He had lost 18,000 foot soldiers, 2,000 horsemen, and hundreds of pack animals in the mountains, but all of the ele- phants had survived the march. The arrival of the Carthaginian army in Italy took the Romans completely by surprise. Roman armies marched north to chal- lenge the Carthaginians; but Hannibal destroyed them and dominated Italy for the next fif- teen years but was never able to conquer Rome itself. When a Roman army invaded Carthage in 203 B.C., Hannibal left Italy to defend his homeland. The fol- lowing year, Hannibal's army was decisively defeated by the Romans. Hannibal fled into exile and at age 65 committed suicide by poison after being betrayed into the hands of Roman assassins. His last words were: "Let us put an end to the worries of the Romans, who cannot stand to wait for the death of a hated old man". *** Hannibal's War Elephants

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