This dance is taken from the book Dances of Italy by Bianca M. Galanti, published in 1950 by Chanticleer Press Inc., New York, NY. La Furlana Ziguzaine was danced spontaneously in the courtyards of the castles in western Friuli during the grape harvest. This is a courting dance; lively flirtation is an essential part of the dance.
Formation: For one or several couples. If danced by several couples, after the intro, couples form a circle facing CCW with women to their partner’s right.
We continue the series of descriptions of folk costumes taken from the book, now out of print, Il Costume popolare in Italia, by Emma Calderini, published by Sperling & Kupfer, Milano. In this issue, we highlight two costumes from the region of Abruzzi. Click here for the entire gallery
Blouse of homemade fabric with a scooped neckline, decorated with crocheted lace at the neck and sleeves. Bodice of hand-woven fabric; separate sleeves are attached with colored lace and embroidered with gold braiding (see detail). Wide pleated skirt striped at the bottom with bands of fabric and velvet. Small silk apron. Woolen knit stockings. Shoes of black leather. Hair parted at the forehead and braids gathered in the back. A handkerchief of white muslin, embroidered in the corners, covers the head allowing glimpses of the silk ribbon that ties around the head. Gold pendant earrings. Necklace of hammered gold beads. Gold rings with images of saints.
Holiday Attire of Orsogna
Blouse of flannelette, decorated at the neck with lace and on the front with narrow pleats. Skirt of heavy wool with velvet appliqués and colored stitching, gathered in pleats at the waist and smooth in the front. Little taffeta jacket, decorated with fabric remnants and velvet. Apron of embroidered silk, hemmed with an embroidered lace border. On the head and shoulders, a shawl of beautiful Damask silk. White knit stockings. Shoes of black leather. Large earrings of wrought gold (see detail).
August 1, 2012
Sorrento, Campania
Unfortunately we all know that the speed of modern life can make it difficult to appreciate and give proper due to the old traditions and know-how of cabinet makers, inlayers, embroiderers, upholsterers, restorers, ceramicists, and shoemakers, among others. Artisans, their traditional workshops, and thus a small piece of history are unfortunately slowly disappearing throughout Italy.
Well, rather than lament the state of affairs, our new friends at Botteghiamo (an untranslatable, made-up word; roughly meaning, “Let’s artisan workshop/ing”) have decided to do something about it. Their admirable goal is to foster an until-now non-existent link between the traditional artisans and the global community through the web, social technologies, and the increased awareness of this priceless and irreplaceable legacy. Their first project?
Italian Notebook is a free, brief, daily email from Italy read by tens of thousands of Italophiles worldwide! GB, the editor, launched the online resource with the objective of taking his dual insider/outsider perspective on Italy to the web. Born in Germany, raised in France and Italy, both a US and Italian citizen, educated at Penn in Philadelphia, he now lives in Rome again. He has many great contributors on board and is looking forward to adding exciting new features to the site.
To sign up to receive this free email and to peruse past issues, go to: http://www.italiannotebook.com/
Here’s a sample email from August of last year.
I have devoted a great deal of my life working to preserve our Italian heritage in the United States. Many of you have spent time and money doing the same but, in doing so, have we wasted our time, money, and energy? The odds are against us because we are not doing the things we should. How does an ethnic group insure its survival?
Italy today is not the same country your grandparents left, and it is true that many Italian-Americans are now highly acculturated and assimilated members of American society. We also agree that the language has been lost, and almost everything of Italy and things Italian. If there was the will, Italian-Americans could learn about Italy and her heritage. If we are able to get across to Italian-Americans that our Italian heritage is a treasure, we may have more success. We need to point out that Italian personal and family values and our way of interacting with relatives and friends is very enriching. By raising the consciousness of our intellectual heritage, they will come to value what Italy has contributed to the world!
Continue reading “Will Our Italian Heritage Become Extinct by the End of This Century?”
The following photos were provided by Richard Castillo who lives in Oakland, CA, and is very much into Italian folklore and traditional costumes. He has collected numerous pictures of Italian regional folk costumes that he would like to share with various Italian organizations.
Richard says, “It seems as though not enough is done in promoting our folk costumes, and my wish is to bring the costumes to the forefront.” His goal is to promote our Italian heritage by promoting the folk costumes to the Italian American museums and various Italian centers so they can also promote the folk costumes.
Since many IFAFA members are involved with Italian Community Centers, you are invited to contact Richard who will gladly email photos to you from his collection. His email address is <rcastill@acgov.org>. You may also contact him if you have a personal interest in costumes from a particular region; you do not need to be a member of an Italian Community Center to request photos.
Recently I was paging through one of my favorite books Festivals and Folkways of Italy by Frances Toor. Toor (1890-1956) was an ethnologist who traveled through Italy shortly after World War II. She spent eight months in Italy experiencing and writing about the festivals, crafts, foods and traditions of the “peasant” Italians. She believed that the “richest” traditions and folk arts belonged to the poor.
In her book, Toor describes Neapolitans as intelligent, generous and capable of great friendship. She then notes how they are good workers but do not like working under bosses. As a result they try to eke out a living by selling something or working in their crowded bassi (one room apartments). Toor states that she saw little of the dolce far niente (sweet laziness) which Neapolitans are famous for.
She offered the following story as an example of dolce far niente.
A fisherman asleep on the shore in the shade of his rowboat was awakened by a friend who said to him,”Wake up Giovanni, a big passenger ship with many foreigners has just come in!”
Gabriele D’Annunzio
| Settembre, andiamo. È tempo di migrare. Ora in terra d’Abruzzi i miei pastori lascian gli stazzi e vanno verso il mare: scendono all’Adriatico selvaggio che verde è come i pascoli dei monti. Han bevuto profondamente ai fonti alpestri, che sapor d’acqua natia rimanga nei cuori esuli a conforto, che lungo illuda la lor sete in via. Rinnovato han verga d’avellano.E vanno pel tratturo antico al piano, quasi per un erbal fiume silente, su le vestigia degli antichi padri. O voce di colui che primamente conosce il tremolar della marina!Ora lungh’esso il litoral camina la greggia. Senza mutamento è l’aria. Il sole imbionda si la viva lana che quasi dalla sabbia non divaria. Isciacquio, calpestio, dolci rumori. Ah perchè non son io co’ miei pastori? |
September, let us go. It’s time to migrate. Now in the land of Abruzzi my shepherds leave the stables and go towards the sea: they go down to the wild Adriatic which is green as their mountain pastures. They drank deeply at the mountain springs, so that a taste of native water stays in their displaced hearts to comfort them, so that long it may soothe their thirst along the way. They have replaced their chestnut shepherd’s staff.And they go along the ancient track to the plain, as if following a grassy silent river, on the footsteps of their ancient fathers. O the voice of he who first recognizes the trembling of the sea waters!Now following the coast the sheep tread. Motionless is the air. The sun so lightens the living wool that it’s almost indistinguishable from the sand. Splashing, trampling, sweet noises. Alas why am I not with my shepherds? |
A Christmas Adventure in Little Italy
It’s the day before Christmas, and Jimmy and his best friend—his dog, Blackie—are visiting Nonna, Jimmy’s grandma, in her neighborhood called Little Italy. Jimmy loves to visit with Nonna, especially when he can help her make biscotti. After they finish their baking, Jimmy, Nonna, and Blackie set out together on the wintry day to take packages of the freshly baked biscotti to St. Michael the Archangel Church, where the cookies will be given to poor families on Christmas Eve. But as they leave the church, a bus making a sudden stop startles Blackie, and the little dog runs off through the neighborhood. All too soon, Jimmy realizes that Blackie is lost. Even though Jimmy and Nonna search everywhere, the quickly falling snow covers up Blackie’s paw prints, making it impossible to follow him. Will Jimmy’s Christmas be a sad one without his best friend?
A Christmas Adventure in Little Italy is a heartwarming tale of a boy and his dog, set against the backdrop of a 1950s-era Italian neighborhood. The endearing and evocative images and child-friendly narrator’s voice will enchant young readers (and listeners), transporting them to a time gone by—a time of simple pleasures and special relationships. The inclusion of Nonna’s biscotti recipe at the end of the book—a real taste of Little Italy—is an added treat that children and adults alike will love. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Kathleen Muth Reading Center at Chapman University. For more information, please visit www.chapman.edu.
To buy the book from the author, go to <http://www.achristmasadventure.com/>. The book is also available through amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.
October 6, 2012, the Amici Italiani Youth & Adult Dance Troupes of Rockford, Illinois, had the honor of being inducted into the Greater Rockford Italian American’s Hall Of Fame! Congratulations!!
