Buona Pasqua, Buona Pasqua Ebraica
Happy Easter, Happy Passover
Wanting to send holiday best wishes, I looked up at the Italian word for Passover. "Pasqua degli Ebrei" or "Pasqua Ebraica" (Easter of the Hebrewsj was the dictionary definition."Really?" I asked my Facebook friends, who explained that "paschal" blood had marked the doors of Hebrew families exiled in Egypt. According to my Italian etymological dictionary, the word Pasqua, which dates back to 1342, translates as "la festa che commemora la liberazione dalla schiavitù d'Egito" (the feast that commemorates the liberation from Egyptian slavery).
Somewhere in time Pasqua became synonymous with the Christian celebration of Easter. "Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi" ("Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever you want"), Italians say. An invitation to Easter dinner with friends in Italy is a special treat indeed. After forty days of fasting during Quaresima (Lent), Italians celebrate with foods that form a mouth-watering vocabulary of their own.
Throughout Italy the traditional main dish is agnellino al forno (roasted baby lamb) or capretto (baby goat). Rome’s Easter specialty is abbacchio, a suckling lamb no more than a month or so old. Because it has ingested only its mother’s milk, its meat is especially tender. The name comes from the Latin baculum, the cudgel used to kill lambs. Until a few decades ago, shepherds would lead their flocks into Rome every Spring so people could select victims for the annual slaughter. The word abbacchiato became slang for someone beaten down, physically or mentally.
“Pasta matta” (crazy dough) encases torta Pasqualina (Easter cake), a traditional savory pie from Piedmont and Liguria. Its distinctive feature is that whole eggs are baked inside.
Italy’s traditional Easter dessert is Colomba cake, a sweet, eggy, yeasted bread topped with sugared and sliced almonds. Commercial bakers shape this confection into a colomba (dove), the symbol of peace and renewal, but home bakers usually do an oval approximation.
I’ve tried (without success) to explain the popular American Easter symbols of bunny rabbits and hard-boiled eggs to Italian friends. In Italy uova di Pasqua (Easter eggs) come only in chocolate (or flowers, as in the photo from a florist in Rome above). Festive displays decorate coffee bars, pastry shops, supermarkets, and chocolate shops in the weeks before Easter, with some mammoth eggs weighing in at nearly 18 pounds.
Although most commercial eggs contain a child’s toy or trinket, Easter eggs aren’t just for the kids (bimbi) in Italy. In the 15th century nobles encased works of art and other extravagances in enormous chocolate eggs.
The very best modern eggs are still handmade by a cioccolataio, an artisan of chocolate, who will insert a surprise supplied by the purchaser. Inside a customized egg a lucky recipient may find jewelry, a watch, car keys—or an engagement ring. This in itself may explain why “felice come una Pasqua” also translates into being “happy as can be.”
Words and Expressions
vigilia di Pasqua -- Easter eve
il coniglietto -- bunny rabbit
l'agnello pasquale -- the Easter lamb
colomba di Pasqua -- Easter cake
Dianne Hales is author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.
To learn to easily make the Italian Colomba from scratch, check out my blog:
http://d
iningwithdiplomats.blogspot.com/2011/04/mediterranean-easter-breads.html
Auguri!
Posted by: Aasriolo | April 22, 2011 at 09:20 AM
Maybe US Easter symbols will become more commonplace in Italy over time...like peanut butter! Today I received an electronic Easter card from cugini with bunnies, eggs etc. Also, a close friend (US Italo-Americana married to an Italian)living in Italy conducts Easter egg coloring events with local school children and elderly residents of a retirement home in her small town. American friends send her MANY packets of Easter Egg dye. Buona Pasqua a lei!
Posted by: Patricia | April 03, 2010 at 08:18 AM