Category: Miscellaneous

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March 19^th is the Feast Day of St. Joseph, one of the most beloved saints in the Catholic tradition, regarded as the protector of the family. His feast day is celebrated in many ways throughout Italy, but it has a special significance to Sicilians and Sicilian-Americans.

The origin of the celebration dates back to a severe drought which took place in Sicily during the Middle Ages. Crops failed, farm animals died, and famine spread across the island. The Sicilian people turned their prayers to St. Joseph, asking him to intercede on their behalf for relief from the devastating famine, and they promised that, in return, they and their descendants would honor St. Joseph each year on his feast day. Rain came and returned life to the dried land. The disaster was averted, and the Sicilian people gave thanks to St. Joseph with a celebration. The villagers gathered food and placed it on the Leggi tutto “The Tradition of St. Joseph’s Table”

Il nostro benamato panettone, dolce-simbolo delle feste natalizie, ha un’origine assai divertente. Il panettone, come viene inteso oggi, è una specialità gastronomica recente nella storia dolciaria italiana. Infatti, si dice che fu inventato solo alla fine del XIX secolo a Milano in seguito a un episodio davvero leggendario.

Come augurio di Buon Natale e di Felice Anno Nuovo, ecco il simpaticissimo racconto del famoso “panettone”! C’era una volta un panettiere che si chiamava Toni. Un bel giorno Toni s’innamorò follemente di una certa ragazza contadina di nome Lucia. Ora, Lucia andava al paese tutte le mattine per vendere le uova. Toni, ogni mattina, aspettava l’arrivo di Lucia con ansia ed entusiasmo e poi nel vederla, tanto erano forti i sentimenti che provava per questa fanciulla di campagna che non sapeva mai cosa dire e rimaneva ammutolito. Quanti sguardi d’amore scambiati, quanti sospiri e quante uova rotte proprio perché questo povero diavolo non riusciva a esprimere il suo amore. Finalmente, Toni ebbe una brillante idea: decise di preparare un dolce per la sua adorata Lucia, ma non un dolce qualsiasi, bensì un dolce speciale mai preparato prima di allora!

Così, Toni preparò un dolce a base di uova, burro e frutta candita, dalla pasta soffice e profumata. Ma Toni, tanto emozionato per l’amore intenso che provava per Lucia e tutto preso dalla lavorazione di questo dono, involontariamente mise una grande quantità di lievito nell’impasto senza accorgersene. Il risultato?… un pane dolce alto, alto, alto proprio a causa dell’esagerata lievitazione.

Ma non “tutto il male viene per nuocere”: lo sbaglio di Toni portò alla scoperta di un dolce davvero gustoso. Infatti, quando presentò il suo “pandolce” a Lucia avvenne un miracolo. Toni si rese conto dello sbaglio troppo tardi e non avendo tempo per ricominciare un’altra ricetta presentò il suo dono a Lucia quasi vergognato del suo lavoro mediocre. Lucia, invece, nel vedere l’apparentemente strano dolce dall’aroma quasi incantevole volle subito assaggiarlo e trovò che era di una squisitezza paradisiaca. A quel punto, improvvisamente Toni riuscì a parlare e subito chiese a Lucia di sposarlo. Vissero felici e contenti e anche ricchi, poiché decisero di vendere l’invenzione di Toni battezzandola “Il Panettone” cioè, il “Pan de Toni”.

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— by Leslie Gigliotti

Although Christmas is commonly viewed as a commercial holiday, for many families it is still a religious holiday steeped in tradition. This is especially true for the Italian-American population. In Italy, it is often said, Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi (Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever you wish). One of the many family traditions, alongside decorating the tree and attending midnight mass, is preparing seven types of fish dishes for the Christmas Eve meal.

The tradition of the seven fishes prepared for meals on Christmas Eve lends itself to a Central and Southern Italian tradition and is not prevalent in the Northern region. Some argue that this may be due to Southerners being a bit more superstitious than their Northern counterparts. Of course, you don’t have to look too far for an explanation of why fish is an obvious choice on Christmas Eve: Catholic rules prohibit the consumption of meat on Christmas Eve.

But, like many traditions, the Christmas Eve fish dish has many explanations. There are several arguments provided as to why there are seven fishes consumed, rather than say, six, or even ten. Some reasons are overtly religious: seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; seven sins: pride, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, lust and greed; seven sacraments of the Church: baptism, penance, Holy Eucharist, Leggi tutto “A Christmas Eve Tradition”

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— by Anne Robichaud – An Umbrian tour guide in Italy most of the year, Anne also teaches Umbrian rural cuisine in private homes in the U.S. in February and March (see www.annesitaly.com/united-states-events/u-s-cooking-classes)… and lectures.

San Martino, Umbria – Rural people baptized it l’albero del pane (“the bread tree”) for this tree grew on the mountains where wheat would not grow (and if elevation was also too high for olive trees, walnuts gave oil). The chestnut has starred in the culinary history of many civilizations and nowadays, highlights many a central Italy food festival.

To discover the apex of chestnut culinary creativity, don’t miss the mid-November Festa del Vino e delle Castagne (Wine and Chestnuts Festival) of San Martino in Colle, a minuscule castle-village near Perugia.

As you enter the village through the medieval arch, you’ll see red-cheeked Signor Agostino roasting chestnuts over an open fire. At a stand nearby, a volunteer sells il vino novello (new wine, i.e. of this year’s harvest). Chestnuts and wine are inextricably linked in central Italy’s rural culture. A much-loved saying, “San Martino, San Martino, castagne e vino” (“San Martino, San Martino, chestnuts and wine”) comes to life here in Umbria on November 11th, the feast of St. Martin, when rural families gather to inaugurate their new wine with roasted chestnuts.

Leggi tutto “Celebrating Chestnuts: l’Albero di Pane”

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— by ELIZABETH SALTHOUSE | JAN 03, 2018 | Published in L’Italo-Americano [Please visit the website of L’Italo-Americano for other interesting articles.]

Since the first days of language, humans have been passing on stories. From the sea shanties of Cornwall to the shadow puppetry of China, from the creation tales of Hula dancing to the drama of Caribbean calypso. Sicily is no different: its puppetry, dating back to Medieval times, is famous the world over for  telling tales of knights in battle. But there’s another story too, the tradition of cuntu, dating back to Greek theatre and based on both sung verse and spoken prose. To discover its compelling history we have to go back to the ancient world.

Many modern cultures and languages can trace their origins to ancient ancestors, typically reaching back across decades, centuries and even millennia. European languages from Spanish to Portuguese, Romanian to English, for example, all owe a large debt of gratitude to the ancient Romans. Vulgar Latin forms the basis for several languages spoken by a sizeable proportion of the world’s population, not least of course Italians inhabiting the beautiful Mediterranean peninsula and beyond.

Leggi tutto “Sicily’s storytelling traditions”

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Since 1629, when the French influenced almost all European art forms, the most spectacular puppet presentations told of the Paladins of France and the villainous Saracens during the Crusades – filled with chivalry, love, hate, and terrible battles. The puppets themselves almost come alive! Made of padded wood, they’re dressed in authentic period costumes, including family colors and crest. Knights are well-equipped: from the helmet on the head, and iron breastplate, the sword in the right hand … the shield on the left arm. Only the King, the Ladies, and the Pages are without armor.

The Puparo (or puppet speaker) sets the stage for his audience: a mortal struggle between those hated Saracens and the virtuous Paladins. Our play begins:

ACT 1, scene 1: Gano, the brother-in-law of Charlemagne (King of France and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) makes a pact with the Saracens to betray his fellow countrymen.

ACT I, scene 2: Gano returns to Charlemagne’s camp and tells of the Saracens’ wish to be baptized as Christians. Orlando, the strongest and cleverest of all Paladins, does not believe this surprising turn-about from his enemies. Yet, preferring a brave death to a cowardly life, he leads his men to Leggi tutto “I Pupi Macrì Acireale (Puppet Theatre of Sicily)”

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Even if you were not able to attend the workshop during the 2015 conference, you can partially share the experience through this handout which participants received. Workshop attendees followed a PowerPoint presentation on the history and production of bomboniere and then used a variety of materials to create bomboniere of their own.
— Jackie Capurro, San Jose, CA

Locations Mentioned during the Presentation

• Sulmona: a city and comune of the province of L’Aquila in the Abruzzo region, east of Rome, the home of widely-known manufacturers of confetti
• Museo dell’Arte e della Tecnologia Confettiere Pelino (Pelino Museum of Confetti Art and Technology) is located in the Pelino Factory in Sulmona and contains displays of the history and production of confetti.
  Website: <http://confettimariopelino.com/museo/>
• Avola: a small town in Sicily, between Siracusa and Ragusa, known for growing high-quality almonds, perfectly shaped for confetti

Leggi tutto “Bomboniere Presentation and Workshop”