Becoming Italian Word by Word

Christmas Family Traditions in Italy

 

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 Le tradizioni di Natale 

Christmas Traditions 

“Natale con i tuoi; Pasqua con chi vuoi,” Italians say. “Christmas with your family; Easter with whomever you want.” An Italian Christmas centers on casa (home) and stare insieme in famiglia (being together as a family). Here are some of the most beloved traditions among Italian families:

L’albero di Natale e il presepio (the Christmas tree and Nativity scene)

Italians in the northern part of the country began decorating alberi di Natale (Christmas trees) after World War II, and this tradition has become more widespread. 

In some parts of Italy, families build a tree of light, a pyramid-shaped wooden frame several feet high with tiers of shelves decorated with colored banners and gilt pine cones. Often a Nativity scene (presepio) occupies the bottom shelf, with gifts of fruit, candy, and presents above, small candles fastened to the slanted sides, and a star or small doll at the top. 

In Sicily families make beautiful little altars, hung with green leaves and encircled by oranges, lemons, polished apples, pears, chestnuts, figs and colored eggs. 

La letterina di Natale (the children’s Christmas letter) 

Italian children, like American youngsters, write special letters at Christmas time. However, rather than simply requesting presents, they describe how good they’ve been at home and in school so Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) can evaluate whether they deserve the toys they want. 

A few weeks before Natale, with the help of their teachers (le maestre), children write their thoughts and express their love and appreciation for their parents on special paper (carta) decorated with lustrini d’oro e d’argento (gold and silver glitter) and figure meravigliose (marvelous figures). The children hide the letters in a tovagliolo (napkin) or under their father’s plate before il pranzo di Natale (the Christmas meal). 

Every year the father pretends to be amazed to find the letter and to read the children’s self-evaluation and thanks for i sacrifici (the sacrifices) the parents have made on their behalf. In some families the father reads the letterina aloud; in others the children do so. 

La tredicesima (the thirteenth) 

This is the present Italian grown-ups most look forward to: a Christmas bonus usually consisting of another month’s salary (un’altra mensilità di stipendio), which is why it’s called “the thirteenth.” 

Regardless of whether the amount is modest or generous, the extra money creates a sense of abundance (abbondanza) that enhances the season’s celebrations. 

La filastrocca di Natale 

A filastrocca is a children’s nonsense rhyme. One of the best known is la filastrocca di Babbo Natale, which many boys and girls memorize and recite for their families at Christmas: 

    Babbo Natale viene di notte,
 

    viene in silenzio a mezzanotte.

    Dormono tutti i bimbi buoni
 

    e nei lettini sognano i doni. 

    Babbo Natale vien fra la neve

    porta i suoi doni là dove deve.
 

    Non sbaglia certo: 

     conosce i nomi
 di tutti 

     quanti i bimbi buoni. 

English translation:

    Father Chrismas comes at night; 

    He comes in silence at midnight 

    All the good children are sleeping 

    In their beds they dream of gifts.

    Father Chrismas comes in the snow 

    He carries the gifts where they must go. 

    He never makes a mistake. 

    He knows all the names 

    Of all the good children.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered  and the upcoming  LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. Click here to preorder. For more information, visit her new website: www.diannehales.com.

Click below for a delightful animated video in Italian:

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Christmas Markets in Italy

Mercatini di Natale 

Christmas Markets

In Northern Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige, il Mercatino di Natale (the Christmas market) brings light, joy and cheer. As a local website describes it, “Il Mercatino è una festa per tutti (the Market is a feast for everyone) -- a place to ascoltare e poi ammirare (to listen and then admire), respirare e poi gustare (to breathe and then taste), toccare con mano la tradizione (see/experience something first-hand, get a feel of tradition),
 vivere il clima di festa che avvolge e riscalda (to live the climate of the festival that surrounds and warms) visitors.

Nelle piazze e sulle strade (in the piazzas and on the streets) you experience un'atmosfera di sincero calore (an atmosphere of sincere warmth) and feel il valore più vero e profondo del Natale (the most true and profound value of Christmas). Il profumo (the scent) of il Mercatino di Natale  is unique: quello di cannella e spezie (that of cinnamon and spices), di legno di montagna (of mountain wood), di dolci fatti in casa (of homemade sweets) and di abeti decorati a festa (of fir trees in party decorations).


La luce (the light) comes from le casette di legno addobbate (the little decorated houses) and dall'albero di Natale (from the Christmas tree). Among le dolci note (the sweet notes) of il Mercatino are canti natalizi (Christmas carols), tradizione in musica (traditional music), dishes made from 
le antiche ricette della tradizione trentina e tirolese (ancient recipes from the traditions of Trentino and the Tyrol), le candele decorate (decorated candles)—and gli occhi brillanti dei bambini (the shining eyes of the children).

Here are some popular town markets:

Bolzano

This Sudtirol town hosts a charming Christmas market combining both German and Mediterranean traditions. On the weekends, traditional storytellers, trumpeters and musicians gather in the Piazza Walther and in local churches. Area restaurants offer a typical Sudtirolean menu, which mixes German culinary traditions with Italian delights. The artists' market in Piazza Municipio showcases unique Yuletide ornaments, terracotta and ceramics.

Bressanone

The lovely little ski town of Bressanone, hidden in the Dolomites and dating back to the year 901, puts on the Weihnachtsmarkt (literally, votive night market, another common Christmas market found throughout Germany). Visitors can also tour the Museo dei Presepi (Crèche Museum) in the Palazzo Vescovile.

Merano

Merano, una splendida città termale (a splendid spa town), invites visitors to its Christmas market to abbandonarsi alla carezza del wellness (to surrender to the caress of wellness). In addition to le occasioni di benessere (opportunities for wellbeing), there is una casetta in legno (a little wooden house) tutta dedicata agli artigiani che lavorano legno, pietra, cuoio, cera e feltro (completely dedicated to artisans working in wood, stone, leather, wax and felt).

Trento

Set amidst le antiche mura cittadine (the ancient city walls), Trento’s Mercatino boasts famose decorazioni natalizie impossibili da trovare altrove (famous Christmas decorations impossible to find elsewhere). A special section presents local specialties such as strudel di mele (apple strudel) and steaming cups of vin brulè (mulled wine). Christmas choirs in typical costumes (costumi tipici) of the region sing canti alpini (Alpine songs) agli angoli delle vie (at the street corners).

Words and Expressions

Oggetti d’artigianato –- artisan-made objects

Addobbi tradizionali –- traditional decorations

Specialità locali -– local specialties

Magica atmosfera –- magical atmosphere

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered  and the upcoming  LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. Click here to preorder. For more information, visit her new website: www.diannehales.com.

The Year of Food in the Italian Language: Eating

Mangiare 

To eat, eating 

2018 has been designated "the year of Italian food,"  but eating isn't just a national pastime in Italy: It's become part of the Italian language. 

Preparing a meal or feeding family and friends translates as fare da mangiare (to make for eating). “Mangia, mangia!” ("Eat! Eat!") Italian mothers have always urged children. The highest compliment a customer — particularly a buona forchetta (good fork or hearty eater) -- can give a restaurant is to say “si mangia bene” (one eats well) there.

Consider other ways one can eat in Italy:

*Mangiare a scrocco / a ufo /a sbafo -- eat on the cheap, at one’s own expense

*Mangiare come uno scricciolo/un uccellino/un grillo –- to eat like a wren/ birdie/ cricket (to eat very little)

*Mangiare a quattro palmenti –- to eat a lot and greedily

*Mangiare sano –- to eat healthily

When it’s time to eat, Italians call, “Tutti a tavola!” (Everyone to the table!) If you are so hungry you could eat an ox (mangiare un bue), you may have to resist the temptation to fare una scorpacciata (stuff your face) like a mangione (glutton).

Remember: “L’appetito vien mangiando.” (Appetite comes with eating, so the more you eat, the more you want.) But don’t worry about how much time you spend eating because, according to an old proverb, “A tavola non si invecchia mai.” (You never grow old at the table.)

If you’re not feeling well, you should mangiare in bianco (eat white or plain food like boiled rice or pasta without sauce). Try to avoid mangiucchiare (nibbling or toying with your food)—or eating alone. “Chi non mangia in compagnia è un ladro o una spia,” Italians warn. “Who doesn’t eat with a companion is a thief or a spy.” A grim fate awaits the solitary diner, according to another saying: “Chi mangia solo crepa solo.” (Who eats alone dies alone.)

In Italy you can eat more than actual food. A mangiatutto (eater of everything, or spendthrift) may mangiarsi un patrimonio (eat up or waste his inheritance). If you’re enamored, you might divorare /mangiare uno con gli occhi (devour or eat with your eyes) the object of your affection. If you’re angry, you may mangiarti vivo uno (eat someone alive -- or jump down his throat). Or you could become so resentful that you want to mangiarti il fegato (literally eat your liver).

A mangiapane (bread-eater) is a loafer;  a mangiapreti, a priest-eater or rabid anticleric. Italians call a seductive, man-eating woman a mangiauomini and a mediocre, ineffective lawyer a mangiacarte (paper eater).  Worst of all is someone so terrible-looking that he’s called a mangiabambini (baby-eater, or bogey man).

Words and Expressions 

Magnare (Romanesco), pappare -- slang or dialect words for eating

Mangereccio, mangiabile -- edible, eatable

Pappone -- greedy eater, but also pimp

Mangiare la foglia -- to eat the leaf (smell a rat, see through something)

Mangiarsi le unghie -- bite one’s nails

Si mangia per vivere, non si vive per mangiare -- You eat to live, not live to eat

Ti mangerei di baci! –- I would eat you up! (a sweet expression usually used with children) 

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Summer in the Italian Language: August Festivals

Le feste di agosto

Years ago I celebrated my first Italian Ferragosto in Capri,  a most fitting (though crowded) place to be on August 15. The Roman emperor Augustus so enjoyed late summer that he claimed as his own the month we now call by his name. 

Augustus ordered month-long festivities, called feriae augustus, which included games, races and rituals to honor the goddess Diana, who was worshiped as queen of the fields as well as of heaven and earth. Augustus was equally enamored with the beguiling island of Capri, which he appropriated from the municipality of Naples in exchange for the nearby island of Ischia.

With the rise of Christianity and the suppression of pagan feasts, August 15 became a religious holiday commemorating the assumption or lifting into heaven of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Over the centuries various communities developed special ways of honoring the Madonna.  In the Sardinian town of Sassari,  for instance, men carrying elaborately decorated wood columns dance through the streets. 

Messina’s townspeople construct La Vara, a fantastic sixty-foot-high pyramid from which stars, clouds and figures of saints dangle. At one time young boys dressed as angels and apostles were hoisted into the air by rings attached to La Vara. As part of the ceremonies a young girl representing the Virgin Mary freed a prisoner. 

According to a Neapolitan legend, local fishermen once pulled a portrait of the Madonna from the sea, and their king ordered a church built around it at the beach.  On August 15, which became known as the Festa della Nzegna, everyone was tossed into the water. The night before the faithful ate only watermelon, but the next day they feasted on sumptuous desserts.

In the late  Renaissance, Rome’s governors flooded the splendid Piazza Navona for festivities that included fake fish splashing in the water and young boys diving for coins. As darkness fell, candles and torches glistened, and Romans enjoyed lavish dinners called sabatine (little Saturday feasts).

Times have changed. Now a national holiday, Ferragosto marks the height of the Italian vacation season. In cities and towns many restaurants and shops close.  The term “ferragosto in città” describes, not just the emptied towns, but any bleak or unhappy situation. As millions flock to the beaches, seaside villages host daylong festivities that often end with spectacular displays of  fireworks (fuochi d’artificio). 

The summer celebrations continue throughout August, including:

    *The Palio (horse race) in Siena on August 16. Just as they first did in 1656, race horses (cavalli) and their bareback riders representing the city’s contrade (wards or neighborhoods) whip madly around the edges of the Piazza del Campo. The prize of a silk banner goes to the first horse to cross the finish line with its head ornaments intact -- with or without its jockey.

    *A torchlight procession commemorating the "Miracle of the White Madonna" in Portovenere in Liguria 

    *A three-week festival with costumes, processions and music to celebrate La Fuga del Bove (The Escape of the Ox) in Montefalco in Tuscany.

    *Elaborate historic processions to commemorate La Perdonanza (The Pope's Pardon)  in L'Aquila in Abruzzo.

    *Venice Film Festival in late August.

    *Settimane Musicali di Stresa (musical weeks) in Stressa on Lago Maggiore in late August.

    Buone feste!

Words and Expressions

Ferragostano -- of/related to Ferragosto  

L’estate -- summer

Festeggiare -- to celebrate

Andare in ferie -- go on holiday

Dianne Hales is the author of Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered  and  La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.   

 Click below to witness the excitement of Siena's Palio:

 

Summer in the Italian Language: Going to the Beach

La spiaggia

The beach

The beaches of Sonoma County on the northern California coast, practically in my backyard (praticamente dietro casa), are beautiful, dramatic--and usually windy and cold. As much as I love walking and running on them, none can compare with una spiaggia italiana. If I could, I'd spend the entire summer on one.

Over the years I've discovered that  going to the beach (andare in spiaggia) in Italy requires a specialized vocabulary.  Start with sunglasses (gli occhiali da sole) and  flip-flops (le infradito). If  you’re a woman, you'll also need a cover-up (il pareo o il copricostume) to wear over your swimsuit (il costume da bagno).

Here are some other words and phrases that are sure to come in handy:

*Bagnino –- beach attendant, lifeguard

*Sdraio –- beach chair

*Lettino -- longer lounge chair,  beach lounger

*Ombrellone –- big (beach) umbrella

*In prima fila –- in the first row, closest to the water

*In riva al mare –- another way of saying close to the shore

*Locale sulla spiaggia -– beach club

*Lungomare –- boardwalk

*Sabbia –- sand

*Telo da spiaggia -- beach towel

Once you’ve settled in, you can choose your favorite ways to pass the day. If you're like me, you may want to take a swim (fare un bagno). Or you may prefer to relax (rilassarsi) and get a sun tan (abbronzarsi). Or you might decide to rent a boat (noleggiare una barca), perhaps a paddle boat (un pedalò) or a speedboat (un motoscafo),  build a sand castle (costruire un castello di sabbia), or read a good book (leggere un bel libro).

You’ll find the most amenities at a private beach (spiaggia privata), where gli stabilimenti balneari offer changing rooms, concessions and wi-fi. A sign saying “spiaggia libera” indicates a free or public beach.

The best beaches, as judged by more than 30 criteria, such as water quality, available services and safety, earn designations as “Blue Flag” beaches.  Click here for an article on Tuscany's finest.   

Enjoy your day at the sea (al mare)! But remember: Non dimenticate la crema solare!(Don't forget sunscreen!)

Words and Expressions

Spiaggia sabbiosa -– sandy beach

Marea –- tide (alta—high, bassa -- low)

Acqua di mare –- sea water

Conchiglia –- seashell

Salvagente -- float

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language. 

 

Summer in the Italian Language: End-of-the-Season Sales

Saldi 

Sales 

July is prime time for end-of-the-season sales (saldi or svendite di fine stagione), with lots of mark-downs (ribassi). Be prepared for crowds and long lines at the cashier (la cassa), but the hassle is worth it (vale la pena) if you manage to find good merchandise at a good price (a buon mercato). 

Of course, you can find almost anything in vendita (for sale), if not in svendita (on sale), all year round in Italy. A mercante (merchant) may vende all’ingrosso (sell wholesale), al minuto (retail),  a/in/per contanti (for cash), a resa (on approval) or a rate (in installments). A store is most likely to vendere a buon prezzo (sell at a good price or cheaply) at a clearance sale (liquidazione), auction (vendita all’asta), cut-price sale (vendita a prezzi ridotti) or a sales promotion (vendita promozionale). 

In addition to shops (negozi) and malls (centri commerciali), you can look for offerte occasioni (bargains) at an outdoor market (mercato all’aperto) or a flea market (mercato delle pulci, mercatino dell’usato) that sells secondhand goods (merci di secondo mano). 

At Porta Portese, Rome’s  Sunday morning flea market, I once tried to engage in a bit of bargaining (mercanteggiamento, contrattazione) for a small silver box with a salesman (venditore) who proved to be a better bargainer (affarista) than I. When I tried to tirare sul prezzo (haggle or negotiate a price), he assured me that he was giving me a sconto (discount) and un prezzo speciale (a special price). 

“È un’occasione, lo prendo!” (It’s a bargain. I’ll take it!) I said, sure that I had fatto un affare (made a good bargain). Ten minutes later I saw a similar box at a lower price. At least I didn’t pay un occhio della testa (an eye of the head, the equivalent of English's "arm and a leg") for it.  

If you are tempted by the come-ons of i venditori ambulanti (mobile or street vendors), state attenti (be careful). You may come across un venditore di fumo  (a cheat or crook) or a master of l’arte di vendere (the art of salesmanship).  

Some may offer you una borsa  in vera “finta pelle’" (an authentic fake leather purse). You could end up with a borsa taroccata (knock-off purse) that falls apart the first time you use it. When this happened to me, all I could say was, "Che fregatura!" (What a rip-off!).

Words and Expressions 

La merce, la roba -- merchandise 

Il mercato nero -- the black market 

Andare a ruba -- literally to go like a raid, to sell like hotcakes 

Avere le mani bucate  -- to have holes in one’s hands, to let money run through your fingers 

“Vendesi” -- "on sale" sign for a house, car, etc.   

Dianne Hales is the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered.   

 

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Summer in the Italian Language: Sunny Days

Il sole


The sun

Italians sometimes describes themselves as “solari” (sunny, cheerful, radiant). Il sole italiano certainly has inspired il culto del sole (sun worship) throughout the peninsula. Could anyone other than Italians have written a love song to the sun?

Giovanni Capurro, a writer in Naples, and Eduardo di Capua, a posteggiatore (Neapolitan for a party or restaurant singer), composed “'O sole mio” (“My Sun") in 1898 and sold all rights to a music publisher for 25 lire. Here is the first verse:

“What a beautiful thing is a sunny day.

The air is serene after a storm.

The air is so fresh that it already feels like a celebration.

What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!"

The sun claims a special season every summer: the days of il solleone (the big sun), the period from mid-July to mid-August, when the sun falls under the zodiac sign of Leo (Leone). At the time of the Roman empire, Sirius (the dog star) rose and set with the sun, and people thought its red glow contributed to the summer heat. They used the term canicola (from cane for dog) to describe the “dog days” at the height of summer.

"Come picchia il sole!" (How the sun beats down!), people complain during these long giorni soleggiati (sunny days). If we're on vacation, I am happy not to have to rise with the sun (alzarsi col sole) or get up at sunrise (allo spuntar del sole). When a ray of sunshine (raggio di sole) creeps through our shutters to wake me, it reminds me of a literary description of being in jail: vedere il sole a scacchi (to see the sun in squares).

“Che sole!“ (What a fierce sun!) I think as I blink at the brightness of the sunlight (luce del sole). If I want to sunbathe (esporsi al sole), I look for a sunny spot (un luogo soleggiato) to take the sun (prendere il sole). While in the sun (al sole), I try to protect my eyes with sunglasses (occhiali da sole). To avoid sunstroke (un colpo di sole), I may duck under a beach umbrella (ombrellone). I always remember sunscreen (crema solare) to prevent a sunburn (una scottatura).

Even when Italians aren’t basking in the sun (crogiolarsi al sole), a gleam of sunshine (il bagliore del sole) brightens their conversations. A striking young woman is beautiful as the sun (bella come il sole). A fact may be clear as the sun (chiaro come il sole). Someone who acts openly without hiding anything does so in the light of the sun (alla luce del sole). And, of course, there’s nothing new under the sun (nulla di nuovo sotto il sole), including the fact that il sole sorge -- e sorge per tutti (the sun rises -- and rises for everyone).

Words and Expressions

Il sole è alto -- the sun is up


Sdraiarsi al sole -- to lie in the sun 


Eclissi solare -- solar eclipse

Un sole che spacca le pietre –- a blazing sun, a sun hot enough to fry an egg

Farsi bello del sole di luglio – to take credit for something one didn’t do (like the beautiful July sun)

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered.

A Day for Dads in the Italian Language

Padre, Babbo, Papà, Nonno

Father, Daddy, Grandpa

In Italy La Festa del Papà falls on March 19, the feast of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. In the United States we celebrate fathers on the third Sunday of June. I welcome any chance to honor the men we love so much--whatever the date and whatever we call them. 

A father (padre) is a Babbo (Daddy} in Tuscany, Sardinia and several southern regions) but a Papà (pronounced pa-PAH) in other parts of Italy. The most famous Daddy of all is Babbo Natale (Father Christmas). Il Papa (PAH-pa) is the pope or Santo Padre (the Holy Father), while God remains the eternal father (Padre Eterno or Padreterno). 

Both fathers and grandfathers (nonni) have a long tradition of trying to fare da babbo a qualcuno (help or guide someone). In the fifteenth century the esteemed Cosimo the Elder, the Medici patriarch immortalized as “pater patriae” (father of the country), was meeting with foreign ambassadors at his palatial home. One of his grandsons came to him with some reeds and a small knife and asked him to make him a whistle. Cosimo broke off the conversation, fashioned a whistle and told the boy to run off and play. The ambassadors were indignant.

“Oh my brothers, are you not also fathers?” he laughed, “You marveled that I made him the whistle: it is well that he did not ask me to play it, for that I also would have done.”  Our daughter's grandfather (above) would have said the same.

Fatherhood also implies authority. The master of the house, the owner of a business or the big boss is the padrone. One of the pet phrases my husband has memorized to unfurl at the appropriate moment with Italian friends is, “Il padrone sono io, ma chi comanda è mia moglie.” (“I am in charge, but the person who gives the orders is my wife.”)

A padrone di casa is a landlord; a padrona di casa, a landlady. Anyone can acquire padronanza (mastery) and be padrone di sé (in control of one’s self). After many years, I am still striving to avere padronanza della lingua italiana (have a good command of Italian).

Words and Expressions

Padre padrone -- tyrannical, domineering father

Tale padre, tale figlio -- Like father, like son

Padrone! Padronissimo! -- (literally, “Master! Very much the master!”) Suit yourself! You’ll be sorry!

L’occhio del padrone ingrassa il cavallo -- The eye of the master fattens the horse. (Any business prospers when the owner pays attention).

Un figlio di papà –- a spoiled boy

Dianne Hales is author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

Who can forget the most famous of Italian father figures: Il Padrino?

Celebrating the Festivals of May in Italy

 

Le feste di maggio 

May festivals 

If you’re heading to Italy in the coming weeks (as I am), you can cheer the drivers in the famous Mille Miglia (1000 mile) car rally or celebrate Pinocchio’s birthday in Collodi (Tuscany). Here are some other not-to-be-missed festivities:

*Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the oldest music festivals in Italy, features opera, concerts and dance. The outdoor performances at night often end with dazzling fireworks displays. While in Florence, be sure to go the city’s famous Iris Garden, open to the general public only in May. You’ll gain an entirely new appreciation for the root of Florence’s Italian name: Firenze, derived from the Latin for “to flower or blossom.”

*Giro d’Italia, the largest cycling event of the country, begins, for the first time in its history, in Israel   on May 4. The riders then travel to Sicily, where their route includes a steep ascent of Mount Etna. The race ends with a grueling climb up the Grand Sasso in the Italian Alps. Click here for a map of the entire route.

*Corsa dei Ceri (Race of the Candles). The stony, silent town of Gubbio in Umbria explodes into frenzied excitement every May 15. Three teams of men run up and down its steep streets carrying Ceri, gigantic wooden constructions, each weighing about a thousand pounds and bearing a statue of a saint on top. The Ceri and the Corsa dei Matti (Race of the Crazy Ones, as it's nicknamed) may date back to the twelfth century, when Gubbio was miraculously spared from the forces of Frederick Barbarossa. 

*Calendimaggio, a series of medieval and Renaissance spettacoli (shows) with concerts, dances, archery, flag-waving, cross-bow displays and torch-lit processions, held in Assisi in early May.

*La Barabbata, a procession in which men wear costumes and carry tools representing the traditional trades while white buffalo pull floats displaying the fruits of the trades, celebrated May 14 in Marta on the shores of Lake Bolsena.

*La Festa di San Domenico, a procession on the first Thursday in May in Cocullo in the Abruzzi, highlighted by the carrying of a statue of the town's patron saint covered with live serpents.

*Sposalizio dell’Albero, the wedding of the tree, on May 8 in Vetralla in northern Lazio, in which townspeople decorate a couple of oak trees with garlands and plant new trees in a ceremony that asserts the town's domination over the forest.

*Infiorata di Noto, a huge festival with flower petal art displays and a parade in Noto, Sicily, during the third weekend of May.

*Il Palio di Ferrara, a historical horse race dating from 1279, run the last Sunday in May, with events every weekend of the month, including a procession with over 1000 people in Renaissance costumes on the Saturday night before the race.

Words and Expressions

Festeggiare -- to celebrate, welcome, entertain

Festaiolo -- party animal, merry maker

Festino -- banquet, party, feast

Far festa a qualcuno -- to welcome or greet someone warmly 

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 

Aloha Means Ciao in the Italian Language

Aloha, ciao

Hello, goodbye

Both Italian and Hawaiian use a single word for hello and goodbye: ciao and aloha. But that’s not all these two belle lingue have in common. Rich in vowels, lyrical and lovely to listen to in local melodies (preferably on a moonlit beach in either location), both were carefully crafted to capture the souls of their speakers.

In the late Renaissance, wordsmiths in Florence formed l’Accademia della Crusca (Academy of the Bran) to merge their love of food with a passion for the Tuscan vernacular (il volgare toscano) that Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca had elevated to a fine literary tongue. Determined to separate the linguistic wheat from the chaff,  the Crusconi (Crusty Ones, as they called themselves)  created the first Vocabolario (official dictionary) of any Western society.

At the time no one in the West knew about the lush volcanic islands (isole) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It wasn’t until 1778 that Captain James Cook landed in Kauai and discovered a people with an ancient culture (una cultura antica) but no written language.  The original Hawaiians transmitted their history, genealogy, religion and values through stories (racconti) that one generation told to another and  the intricate dance movements of the hula.

I learned about the origins of the Hawaiian language in Sarah Vowell’s Unfamiliar Fishes, a quirkily entertaining account of how New England missionaries transformed an island paradise.   

In order to spread the  word of the Lord (la parola del Signore), the ardent mikanele (missionaries in Hawaiian) needed a bible that the natives (gli indigeni) could study and read. Since there was no written form of their madrelingua (mother tongue), the missionaries had to create one.  Working on the assumption that fewer letters would be easier to learn, they whittled down the standard 26 characters of the English alphabet (alfabeto) to twelve letters: A, E, I, O, U, H, P, L, K, M, N and W.  

Over the next 17 years, missionaries translated the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament into the 2,333-page Ke Kauoha Hou  (Holy Scriptures). They printed 10,000 copies and taught so many men, women and children to read that by 1863, the end of the missionary era, 75 percent of Hawaiians had become literate in their native language.

Like Italian, Hawaiian has words (parole) with multiple meanings that don’t translate easily into English. One is haole, which means "foreigner” but, according to Vowell, also refers to “all the pasty-faced explorers, Bible thumpers, whalers, tycoons, con men, soldiers  and vacationers who have washed ashore” over the years. My husband and I, who met in Hawaii decades ago,  are among them.

Haole literally means  "without ha” (breath) while aloha  means “the presence of breath” or the “breath of life.” Foreigners  came to be known as haole because they refused to engage in the traditional Polynesian greeting in which two people touch noses and embrace while breathing in each other’s essence.    

Even though I’ve never had the opportunity for such genial nose-pressing, I’m always happy to return to Hawaii, as we have this week, to listen to its lilting language and  to breathe in its gracious aloha spirit.

Words and Expressions

Lingua scritta –- written language

Saluti –- greetings

Missionario –- missionary

Analfabeta -- illiterate

Tradizione orale –- oral history

Dianne Hales is the author of MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.

 

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