By Brendan Young
La santa Pasqua, or holy Easter, in Italy and among Italian Americans, remains firmly rooted in special, ancient traditions commemorating Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. While our country’s secularized observance of Easter is unimpressively reduced to bunnies and Cadbury eggs, celebrations in our Patria or fatherland, and wherever our immigrants have settled and we descendants live, are rich in faith and deep meaning.
The late Giacomo Cardinal Biffi, Archbishop of Bologna, has been quoted as saying that if the (Catholic) faith is separated from Italian culture, all that would be left is a plate of spaghetti. The joys of Easter, expressed in such tangible ways, are preceded by the solemnity and seriousness of the whole of Quaresima, or Lent, and especially the culmination of the emotional crescendo that is Holy Week, la Settimana Santa. Easter’s food and its preceding fasts, Paschal joy and prior penance, the accompanying music’s transition from adagio to allegro, and all other cultural practices and displays, are inseparably joined to the Mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.
The following article will appear in the April edition of ISDA’s La Nostra Voce, the nation’s fastest growing Italian American newspaper that chronicles our culture, history, traditions and today’s news. Subscribe today for only $25/year.
Italians are by nature not only practical and pragmatic, but sensible and sensitive. The Church’s universal fast and abstinence during Lent are complemented by localized, moving devotions that have been beloved in Italy – especially southern Italy, including Sicily – for centuries. Among these are the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross), the Via Matris, a similar devotion marking the Seven Sorrows of Mary, mournful hymns including Lamenti or Lamentations (those sung in Mussomeli in central Sicily, for example, have been registered in the nonmaterial register of cultural Patrimony by UNESCO or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and a special service called the Cadute (Falls) commemorating the Passion of Christ. Other prayers and rituals honoring the Lord’s suffering and death and His Sorrowful Mother, called the Addolorata in Italian, are kept throughout Italy, varying by town and region.
Recipe: Soft Easter Brioche Breads
Passion Sunday, which precedes Palm Sunday by one week, sees crucifixes and other statues, apart from those to be carried in processions, covered in veils of dark purple material to symbolize Jesus’s hiding Himself recounted in the day’s Gospel reading (John 8:59). At the end of the week, the Venerdì dell’Addolorata, or the Friday of the Sorrowful Virgin is observed, signaling the imminent onset of the most revered time of the year, Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum.
On Domenica delle Palme, Palm Sunday, olive branches are blessed as well as palms. Palms are taken home from church and braided or formed into intricate designs, besides crosses. The knowledge of these designs is passed on from generation to generation. Processions are also held in many places. In Caltanissetta, for example, a statue of Jesus of Nazareth is carried on a boat made of flowers.
On Giovedì santo, Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated followed by the procession with the Santissimo (the Blessed Sacrament) to the Altar of Repose, still commonly called the Sepolcro, or Tomb, which is decorated not only with intricate lace cloths and brocade textiles, but many candles, beautiful flower arrangements and in the south especially, wheat sprouts which had been cultivated in dark places. These sprouts are called Lavureddi in Sicilian. Church bells are silenced until Holy Saturday evening, and a wooden clapper called the troccola or crotalo is used instead to announce services. Members of confraternities and societies, besides the people at large, go in procession from church to church to visit the Altars of Repose, often carrying statues depicting the Agony in the Garden, Jesus bound at the pillar, the Sorrowful Mother, and different Saints associated with the events of the passion and death of Christ like Mary Magdalen, John the Evangelist and Veronica. Local bands accompany the processions with heartrending melodies like funeral marches, evoking the suffering and death of Jesus.
On Venerdì santo, Good Friday, all is silent and still except for an afternoon service in church, and outdoor processions featuring the carrying of the statues of the Dead Christ, the Addolorata, and, in some places, a few saints who had stood at the foot of the Cross on that first Good Friday. Often, a Crucifixion scene is depicted at a Calvario, or Calvary, sometimes it’s located in the central piazza or town square, sometimes it’s constructed outside of the town. Dirge-like hymns, such as Gesù mio con dure funi (“My Jesus, bound with hard ropes”) written by the Neapolitan St. Alphonsus Liguori, are sung with deep fervor. No meat is eaten on the day, as a penitential sacrifice in acknowledgment of Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice. Fish dishes such as baccalà (cod fish) or pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines) or other meatless entrees, like the scalcione di cipolle, a savory onion pie made in Mola di Bari, in Puglia, are eaten instead.
Recipe: Pizza Gain for Easter Sunday
On Sabato santo, Holy Saturday, final preparations for Easter Sunday are carried out in earnest. Those from the southern Italian mainland finish making their pizza chiena or pizza rustica, or stuffed pizza (popularly called Easter pizza among Italian Americans) which includes lard, cheese and meat, which traditionally were forbidden to eat during Lent. Also made there is the sweeter pastiera, with cooked wheat, eggs, ricotta and orange flower water. In Sicily, foods include seasonal greens like asparagus, mazzareddi amari (bitter greens), carduni (cardoons or burdocks), and on the sweeter side, casateddi cookies (literally little houses) made with granulated sugar and dry marsala, pane di cena (literally dinner bread) which are sweet breads with crosses, and the well-known pupa cu l’ova (a doll with egg) also known and shaped as a palumedda (dove), or a campanaru di Pasqua (Easter bell), a sweet Easter bread surrounding a colored, hardboiled egg, and decorated with sprinkles. Everywhere in Italy, agnello (agneddu in Sicilian), lamb is prepared to eat on Easter Sunday. One famous recipe is abbacchio alla romana, a Roman recipe for suckling lamb.
On la Domenica di Pasqua – also called la Pasqua di Risurrezione (Easter, or the Pasch of the Resurrection), the church bells festively peal, people attend the joyful Solemn Mass, and afterward enjoy the holiday dinner, followed by the various desserts and the indispensable Colomba di Pasqua (the Easter dove), which is a panettone made in the bird’s shape. Depending on the town or region, processions are often held in the morning or in the evening. In aforementioned Mussomeli, for example, the outdoor ceremony is called la Giunta, (in other places l’Incontro) or Meeting, when men carrying statues of the Risen Lord and His rejoicing Mother (in Mussomeli St. Michael the Archangel is also included) rush from different ends of the town’s piazza to come together in the middle, rocking the statues back and forth, as if to make Those they depict dance for joy to the happy music provided by a local marching band.
Finally comes Easter Monday called Pasquetta, or Little Easter, also known as il Lunedì dell’Angelo, the Monday of the Angel, referring to the Angel (one wonders if this was St. Michael) at the Empty Tomb who announced Christ’s Resurrection (Matthew 28:2). A national holiday, Italians go into the countryside for a barbecue, or to the seashore to enjoy a meal and time together, evoking the Risen Jesus preparing breakfast for the disciples (John 21:9).
Italians know how to feast because we know how to fast first. We can experience the joy and good things of Easter because we first experience the sadness and sacrifice of Lent and Holy Week. How fortunate we Italians and Italian-Americans are to have received, keep and pass on the beautiful traditions of our Faith and cultural heritage, in our family, and to celebrate as best we can, the saving Mystery of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. Felice e santa Pasqua a tutti! Happy and holy Easter to all!
Brendan Young, a second-generation Italian-American from Buffalo, New York, is a member of ISDA.
