LIFE: Christmas in Italy

CHIAVARI, Italy – Christmas in Chiavari is a very special time. The streets of town are full of sparkly lights, red poinsettia decorate shop windows, and you might even find a Christmas tree or two in the in some of the small piazzas. It’s a time of family, food, music and the wonder of miracles. 

 

Christmas in Italy

But pretty as the sparkly lights and poinsettia are, they are not what Christmas in Italy is truly about. It is about celebrating the birth of Christ. Most holidays in Italy center on church designated holy days, and some of the holidays are re-worked versions of pagan holidays celebrated by the ancient Romans.  

While Christmas isn’t a re-worked pagan holiday, back in the days of the Roman Empire the Romans did celebrate during the period we now think of as our Christmas season. Their holiday was called Saturnalia and it was celebrated from December 17^th to the 24^th.  It was a whoopee-doo time of feasting, drinking and dancing in the streets.

 

 Sorrento, Italy

We may not celebrate Saturnalia any more, but not all of the old ways are lost. One really old tradition that still survives in some parts of Italy is the burning of a Christmas log on Christmas Eve. At one time burning a log or tree stump was a clever way to disguise an older pagan tradition, one that symbolized the final ending of the old year by burning away whatever evil it had had in it. Out with the old and in with the new.

The ritual went like this: the head of the household would put a log in the family fireplace, say a prayer, put a coin on the log and set the whole business on fire. The youngest member of the family would then have to sing a song or recite a poem before being allowed to pick up the coin. The fire was usually left to burn while the family went to midnight mass, symbolically allowing the Virgin Mary to enter their home and warm the baby Jesus.

 

Zampognari in Rome

Another very old Christmas tradition is that of the zampognari (bagpipers).  It too dates back to the ancient Romans.  It is based on a legend of shepherds visiting the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, and after seeing the baby Jesus, they took out their bagpipes and played. Still today, in remembrance of that moment, if pipers see a public nativity scene they will stop in front of it for a few moments of quiet contemplation and respect before they move on.  

But perhaps the most famous of all Italian Christmas traditions is the nativity crèche. The first manger, as we think of mangers today, was created by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223. He used real people and live animals so his illiterate congregation could understand the true meaning of Christmas. Over the years the idea morphed into using figurines.

 

Christmas at the Vatican 

During the holidays Christian churches in Italy, as well as banks, post offices, train stations and other public buildings used to all have nativity crèches on display. Unfortunately there seem to be fewer of them these days. Even kids used to work together to recreate a manger in the main entrances of their schools, ready to greet visiting parents and relatives.   

In the days leading up to Christmas many Italian families make it point to visit the churches in their town as part of the late afternoon stroll, the passeggiata.  You often see grandparents with their grandchildren standing in front of the crèches in local churches as they tell them the story of Mary and Jesus. Even shoppers rushing around buying gifts for the holidays will often take a break and pop into the closest church to see its version of the baby Jesus and the stable in Bethlehem. 

For Italians Christmas is a religious holiday much more than a gift-giving holiday. The gifts come later on January 5^th, the eve of the Epiphany.  I   remember my father, who grew up in Italy, talking about how thrilled he was to find an orange or some candies from the Befana – the good witch in his Epiphany stocking. 

 

La Befana  

Like Santa Claus, the Befana also flies from roof top to roof top bringing gifts, but instead of riding in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, she rides a broom, or a donkey, or maybe even a bike.  But however those oranges got to my father’s stocking, it must have been quite a trip getting them up to that hill town of Piansano in northern Lazio in those early days of the 1900’s.

Many Italian Christmas traditions like gift bringing witches, bag-piping shepherds, mangers large and small and tree burning ceremonies are a mix of religious and popular customs that date back thousands of years. As the years pass, each region develops its own special way of celebrating Christmas that has a special meaning to the people who live there, but the focus is always on the importance of the holiday – the celebration of the birth of Christ.

The Italians know it’s different in other parts of the world where a jolly old man, a guy with a simple one night mission, nine cute reindeer and a single catchy tune has just about wiped out the religious aspect of Christmas. They don’t want it to happen here and you often here them complain about the foreign assault on their culture. If you think about it, even a Christmas tree in the piazza is a big concession to non-Italian Christmas traditions.

 

 Buon Natale Everyone

But traditions evolve and who knows if at some point we’ll start to see pictures of old Santa twirling a forkful of spaghetti or spooning into a bowl of minestrone soup.  Italians being Italians will certainly figure out some way to make him their own, part of the family – the most important element of Italian life, and I’m pretty sure that is one thing that will never change.  

Buon Natale tutti. See you after the holidays.

LIFE: The Twelfth Day of Christmas

CHIAVARI, Italy - The Feast of the Epiphany, which we will celebrate on Tuesday, January 6th, is a national holiday here in Italy. Technically it is an ancient religious festival celebrating the Magi’s visit to the Christ Child. It is sometimes called “Three Kings Day” or “Twelfth Day” because it is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. 

 La Befana Vien di Notte, Con Le Scarpe Tutte Rotte

Part of the celebration is the arrival of La Befana, the good witch.  She comes down the chimney in the middle of the night and fills the stockings that the kids have hung on their bedposts or fireplaces. There are toys and sweets for those who have been good and a lump of coal for those who have not. Sound familiar? So what happens if you don’t have a chimney? Well, sometimes she files in on a broom or she might come riding up on a donkey or if none of those work she may just slip in through a keyhole. She is a witch, after all.

According to Italian legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger with gifts for the Baby Jesus, they stopped at the hovel of an old woman to ask directions. Seeing her alone, they invited her to come along with them but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd, who was also on his way to visit the Baby Jesus, asked her to join him too, but again she refused.

 They Sure Look Wise to Me

Later that night, when a great light appeared in the sky, the old woman changed her mind and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd and bring the Baby Jesus gifts that had belonged to her now dead child. She gathered the gifts and some food and like the Magi followed the star toward Bethlehem.

Unfortunately she was not able to find the Magi, the shepherds or the new-born baby Jesus. Disheartened by this lost opportunity she stopped every child she saw along the way and with the hope that one of them was the Christ child, she gave each of them a gift. To this day La Befana continues to look for the Christ Child and on this night she goes from house to house in search of Him. 

One of the biggest Befana celebrations in Italy takes place in the town of Urbania, in Le Marche region. And just like Santa Claus has his house up at the North Pole, La Befana has her house in Urbania, and each year between 30,000-50,000 people come to visit her there.

In Rome’s Piazza Navona they celebrate the "feast of the Befana" and the piazza is ringed with stalls selling candy, including lumps of black, sugar charcoal and toys, and pre-stuffed stockings for the little ones. If the kids can stay awake until midnight, they can take part in an ancient Roman tradition of waiting for La Befana to appear in the window of one of the buildings in the piazza, or sometimes she “flys in” at the stroke of midnight on January 6th with a sack of goodies to give away. 

Rome's Epiphany Procession

Rome also celebrates the Epiphany with a procession in medieval costumes. There are symbolic gifts for the Pope and a parade up the wide avenue that leads to the Vatican. Then the Pope says morning mass in St Peter's Basilica to commemorate the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for Jesus. This tradition is (very) loosely based on the ancient pagan holiday of Saturnalia. Now that was a party.

Saturnalia was a week-long blow out celebrated between December 17 -25 in ancient Rome. During this week long period the Roman courts were closed and no one could be punished for damaging property or hurting other people. In other words, it was a lawless free-for-all. The party would start when the Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people”. During the entire week of Saturnalia, the “enemy” was forced to eat and drink and indulge in sexual pleasures, but at the end of the week the Romans sacrificed the “enemy” to the Gods. To celebrate the ceremony of the human sacrifice, cookies in the form of humans were made and eaten. Are we talking about the great, great, great granddaddies of gingerbread men here? Why I do believe we are. 

 We Love Saturnalia

In addition to the human sacrifice, naked people would go from house to house and sing to the occupants (Christmas caroling?), there was widespread drunkenness and everyone closed their eyes to rape and other sexual assaults.

At the end of all this partying, Romans would go to the Temple of Juno on Capitoline Hill to have their fortunes (augers) told by a wise, old crone who lived in a cave the rest of the year. Everyone wanted to know what was in store for them in the New Year. But then, when Christianity became the main religion, they put a stop to all that partying. But the people were not happy with the changes, so the Christians created La Befana and had her bring gifts to placate the partygoers as a substitute for the old woman who read the augers.

The Italian word auguri originated from this practice as it was common to wish someone good augers, or as we say now, tanti aguri (best wishes).  And that is what I wish for all of you – Tanti, tanti auguri per un felice e prospero 2014. 

LIFE: La Befana

SARONNO, Italy - The Feast of the Epiphany, which we celebrated on January 6th, is  a national holiday in Italy. Technically it is an ancient religious festival celebrating the magi’s visit to the Christ Child. It is sometimes called “Three Kings Day” or “Twelfth Day” because it is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. 

 A Roman Befana

Part of the celebration in Italy is the arrival of La Befana, the good witch.  She comes down the chimney in the middle of the night and fills the stockings that the kids have hung on the fireplace. There are toys and sweets for those who have been good, and a lump of coal for those who have not. Sound familiar?

I remember my father talking about how excited he used to be about the arrival of the La Befana, and the joy of finding a couple of oranges in his stocking in the morning. Granted that was a long time ago in a small village in the hills outside of Rome where oranges were an absolute luxury at the time, but if you could see the faces of the kids here in Saronno this past week, I think you would agree that that sense of excitement still exists. There is something magical about someone flying in on a broomstick (or sled) and leaving gifts.

A Stocking full of Candy

According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger with gifts for the Baby Jesus, they stopped at the hovel of an old woman to ask directions. Seeing her alone, they invited her to come along with them but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd, who was also on his way to visit the Baby Jesus, asked her to join him too, but again she refused.

Later that night, when a great light appeared in the sky,  the old woman changed her mind and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd and bring the Baby Jesus gifts that had belonged to her now dead child. She gathered the gifts and some food and like the Magi followed the star toward Bethlehem. Unfortunately she was not able to find the Magi, the shepherds or the new-born Jesus. Disheartened by this lost opportunity she stopped every child she saw along the way and gave each one a treat, hoping that one of them would be the Christ child. 

A Whole Parade of Befane

To this day La Befana continues her search for the Christ Child, using her broom, to fly from house to house. There’s even a little song about La Befana, that parents sing to their kids It goes something like this:

La Befana vien di notte

Con le scarpe tutte rotte

Col vestito alla romana

Viva, Viva La Befana!

The Befana comes at night,

with her broken shoes

and raggedy clothes,

long live the Befana!

It's a lousy translation but you get the idea. I was thinking about inserting a video with the music for this ditty but I couldn’t get past the singing “chipmunk” voices, so I’ll leave that up to you. Then I found two videos showing the arrival of La Befana in Rapallo, a town on the Italian Riviera. In the first video she arrives by boat, this is the Riviera after all, and in the second video she’s in one of the piazzas giving away gifts. There is one scene in the second video of a little boy who does not want the small gift she is holding out to him, and points to the one he does want, a big box of something. 

 http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/2012/01/06/AOmUT7cB-sidecar_befana_vien.shtml

It made me think of my father and how grateful he was to find a couple of oranges in his stocking. I guess that’s what prosperity creates, a sense of entitlement.

Popular tradition dictates that if you see La Befana, or worse yet, if she see you, she will give you a whack with her broomstick. This sounds like a page right out of my parenting playbook as a ploy to keep the kids in bed on the eve of the Epiphany, instead of up hiding behind the furniture trying to get a glimpse of the witch.

One of the biggest celebrations for La Befana is in the town of Urbania, in Le Marche region, where there is a 4-day festival during the weekend of the Epiphany.  Just like Santa Claus has his house up at the North Pole, La Befana has her house in Urbania, and each year between 30,000-50,000 people come to visit her there.

Befana Dolls in Piazza Navona, Rome

In Rome there is the "feast of the Befana" in Piazza Navona and the piazza is ringed with stalls selling candy, including lumps of black, sugar charcoal and toys, and pre-stuffed stockings for the little ones. You can also take part in an ancient Roman tradition of waiting for La Befana to appear in the window of one of the buildings in the piazza, or “fly in” at the stroke of midnight on January 6th with a sack of goodies for the children. 

Rome also celebrates with a procession in medieval costumes. They carry  symbolic gifts for the Pope and parade up the wide avenue that leads to the Vatican. Then the Pope says a morning mass in St Peter's Basilica to commemorate the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for Jesus. 

 La Befana Flying into Town

The origins of La Befana dates back farther than the Roman's pagan festival of Saturnalia, which was a one or two week festival starting just before the winter solstice. At the end of Saturnalia, Romans would go to the Temple of Juno on the Capitoline Hill to have their fortunes told by an wise, old  crone.

Many pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations when Christianity became main stream and La Befana was a good substitute for the old woman who read the augers. The Italian word auguri originated from this practice as it was common to wish someone good augers, or as they say now, tanti aguri (best wishes), instead of Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. And that is what I wish for you – Tanti, tanti auguri per 2012. 

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