Category: Miscellaneous

Lent in Italy – Corajisima, A Calabrian Tradition

This article is from Calabria: The Other Italy. Check out this website to see additional information and pictures:

https://www.calabriatheotheritaly.com/lent-in-italy-calabrian-tradition/?fbclid=IwAR3nptIiW40RxkdagZcDpVEjozCoCKcoofgTooswgwXUZCAqtOeXjNGmm6g

If you happen to be celebrating Easter in Calabria and you arrive a little early, you may just come across what looks like a ragdoll hanging from a balcony or the side of a house. Not to panic, this is not some form of malocchio or evil eye, but Corajisima, a traditional practice during Lent in Italy, specifically, Calabria and other areas of the south.

WHAT IS CORAJISIMA?

Corajisima is more a who than a what. She is the wife or perhaps more accurately said, the widow, of Carnevale. She can also be called the sorella or sister of Carnevale. After the great feast of Martedì Grasso or Fat Tuesday, Carnevale, the embodiment of the revelries, dies. Poor Corajisima remains alone. Usually depicted as an ugly, skinny old woman with a decidedly unsettling appearance, she represents abstinence in the Lenten period.

Leggi tutto “La Quaresima in Italia”

Il Carnevale Italiano: usanze, tradizioni e proverbi dialettali

This article appeared on the website of Musica Popolare Italiana in February of 2018. Follow this link to see more pictures and videos:

http://www.musicapopolareitaliana.com/in-evidenza/78186/il-carnevale-italiano-usanze-tradizioni-e-proverbi-dialettali/

Redazione Musica Popolare 12/02/2018 

Il carnevale è una festa che si celebra nei Paesi di tradizione cattolica. I festeggiamenti si svolgono spesso in pubbliche parate in cui dominano elementi giocosi e fantasiosi; in particolare, l’elemento distintivo e caratterizzante del carnevale è l’uso del mascheramento.

Il “Processo del Carnevale” è tra i festeggiamenti carnevaleschi più diffusi, infatti lo ritroviamo in molte regioni italiane e sopravvive anche nella tradizione popolare odierna. Dopo il testamento del Carnevale, al quale si addossano tutti i mali del vecchio ciclo annuale, di solito si usa metterlo a morte. L’uccisione può avvenire per per impiccagione o decapitazione ed è il momento culminante del dramma e dei festeggiamenti, ma la forma più usuale è quella del fuoco, ovvero la messa al rogo del fantoccio di Carnevale che troviamo in tantissime località.

Leggi tutto “Carnevale!”

These flowers, handmade from wheat, are just one facet of the elaborate tradition in Jelsi, Molise, where an annual Festa del Grano is held in honor of Saint Anna. Search for more live video and archives of this enduring tradition.

  

For more, visit this English language site with several videos detailing the event:
http://annoeuropeo2018.beniculturali.it/…/festa-del-grano-…/

Our thanks to Janine Giarrusso, an IFAFA member from Pittsburgh, PA, for this interesting post! This festival takes place today (26 JULY 2018) in Molise!

 

— Patricia Civitate, Italian-American Cultural Center of Iowa and Director of Il Trattenimento Italiano Folk Dance Troupe

Ci scusiamo. Al momento non è disponibile alcuna traduzione italiana per questa pagina.

This year marked the 21^st anniversary of the St. Joseph Altar Celebration sponsored by the Italian-American Cultural Center of Iowa. This event was successful because of the many hours that numerous volunteers spent making sure that this would be a truly traditional and spiritual undertaking. Sincere thanks to all those who made it happen.

Kathy Foggia and Mary Romanelli began early in February setting up the hall with the backdrop curtains and the three-tiered steps that formed the altar. They covered the steps with linens, attached the table skirts, and then proceeded to add the decorative breads, altar identification cards, and other symbols of faith. John Heldreth and Joseph Boehm donated additional fruits and vegetables and completed the decoration of the altars. Leggi tutto “St. Joseph Altar Celebration in Des Moines, IA”

Ci scusiamo. Al momento non è disponibile alcuna traduzione italiana per questa pagina.

IFAFA President Leslie Gigliotti returned home from New Orleans today, but she shared these pictures from an altar that she viewed over the weekend. From Leslie:

Saint Joseph’s day isn’t until Monday, but a hotel here put their altar up earlier this week. Churches, supermarkets, parochial schools, private homes all have viewings. The paper here puts out a listing.

Alligator made of bread and a crayfish too! And traditional wheat design that they showed us in our vestedde class that some of you may have made in the workshop at last fall’s IFAFA Conference in Rockford, IL. Leggi tutto “From Leslie Gigliotti in New Orleans”

Ci scusiamo. Al momento non è disponibile alcuna traduzione italiana per questa pagina.

(originally published by Nicole Jankowsky in “The Salt” from NPR <https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/03/18/519987433/move-over-st-patrick-st-josephs-feast-is-when-italians-parade>)

The St. Patrick’s parade is over and the Irish (and honorary Irish) have gone home to sleep off their annual bout of intemperance, but the multi-generational marchers of the Italian-American St. Joseph Society in New Orleans are only just dusting off their tuxedos and straightening their bow ties. Once the shamrocks and shenanigans have vanished from the narrow streets of the French Quarter, and the keg of green beer is empty, another parade — in honor of an entirely different saint — is beginning to gear up. Leggi tutto “St. Joseph’s Feast Day in New Orleans”