SICILIAN FAMILY TRADITIONS

The traditional Mediterranean culture has had its influence on the central and southern parts of the country where most Italians are shorter with olive skin and dark hair(as in Sicily where I live). Farther north, the people are taller , blond and have lighter eyes, due to the Germanic influence across Alps.

Sicilians love their food, their families, their music and their heritage. We exude confidence, charisma and hospitality.

We are lively, sociable and have passion for everything we do. We express emotion more freely, than most and are not afraid to give hugs, kisses, and displays of affection.We love to laugh and talk loudly, usually emphasizing everything with hand gestures.There are a vast number of religious monuments and paintings as well as local traditions based on Christian celebrations and the lives of the saints.

We are very tied to our family values. So we have an holiday to celebrate mothers (the mother-day) and one to celebrate fathers (the father-day).
We love any reasons to celebrate. Easter and Christmas are joyously planned for and observed by feasts, sweets, decorations, plays and elaborate gifts.

Christmas holiday is considered the most important holiday of the year. In our days when speaking of Christmas we refer to it as a period of time which goes from December 24th to January 6th(this represented by an ugly old lady, the “Befana” who, in the night between january5th and 6th,enters the houses riding a broom, bringing presents and filling socks with candies for the kids who behaved well and coal for the ones who behaved like rascals.

During the period preceding the real holidays is a tradition to set the “presepe” (crib) and the Christmas tree. The presepe is the exact reproduction, by means of small statues of scenes regarding Jesus birth, while the tree is a fir, real or fake, decorated with coloured balls and multicoloured lights.The 8th of march is the women's day and Italian men are going to celebrate it with the traditional gift of yellow mimosas to their lovely women. Some women celebrate this holiday,by having wild women-only nights, going to male stripper shows and so on.

As American traditions are spreading here too, Halloween is surpassing the well-known Italian holiday of Carnevale . Carnevale is still superior, but tendencies are looking undoubtedly more and more in favour to Halloween. Anything goes at carnival.Carnevale is the huge winter festival that is celebrated around the country with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music and parties.

We work hard and enjoy our leisure time.It is common for us to work five full days and then a half day on Saturday. We usually take a lengthy lunch break each day, often going home and spending several hours eating and resting, before returning to work for several more.In the evening, hearty meals are adoringly prepared and savoured, and we can often be found strolling and socializing late in the evening.

Food is a thing of beauty in for us. To the foreigner, our food may seem limited to pasta and pizza but nothing could be further from the truth. The food varies from region to region. In Sicily we have a wide range of dishes both salted and sweet, our cooking is very rich in spices, olive oil, frying, sauces, that's why it's sometimes considered a bit difficult to digest. Typical of our region are the famous “caponata, parmigiana, involtini of swordfish or veal, spaghetti alla norma, pasta 'ncaciata” and sweets like “cannoli, cassata alla siciliana, granita, frutta martorana.” Messina is famous all over the world for the “pescestocco alla ghiotta.”

But we don't only think about eating or celebrating. We have very serious traditions too. For example, death is treated in a particular, realistic and dignified way by us. Most people still dress in black or dark colours and wakes are not jovial events.Traditionally, when someone dies in a village in Italy he or she is kept in an open casket at home and friends and neighbours will visit and pay their respect. The family have a full mass at the funeral service and neighbours and friends will follow the pallbearers to the cemetery in a procession while people watch to pay respect. In cities, people are not as closely inter-wined so funerals may be a little different and death notices are put in the newspaper.

by Valentina Capizzuto

The Wawel Dragon in Cracow

The Wawel Dragon, is a famous dragon in Polish folklore. He laired in a cave under the Wawel Hill on the banks of the Vistula river, although some legends place him in the Wawel mountains. In some stories the dragon lived before the founding of the city, when the area was inhabited by farmers.
A popular version of the Wawel Dragon tale takes place in Cracow during the reign of king Krakus the city's legendary founder. Each day the evil dragon would beat a path of destruction across the countryside, killing people, pillaging their homes and devouring their livestock. In many versions of this story, the dragon especially enjoyed eating young girls, and could only be appeased if the townfolk would leave a young girl in front of his cave once a month. The King certainly wanted to put a stop to that awful situation, but his bravest knights fell to the dragon's fiery breath. In the versions involving the sacrifice of young girls, every girl in the city was eventually sacrificed except one, the King's daughter Wanda. In desperation, the King promised his beautiful daughter's hand in marriage to anybody who could defeat the dragon. Great warriors from near and far fought for the prize and failed. One day, a poor cobbler's apprentice named Dratewka accepted the challenge. He stuffed a lamb with sulphur and set it outside the dragon's cave. The dragon ate it and soon became incredibly thirsty. No amount of water could quell his stomach ache, and after swelling up from drinking half of the Vistula river, he exploded. The apprentice married the King's daughter as promised and they lived happily ever after.
(Poland)

PROM NIGHT IN MY SCHOOL

In January there is a special day for the students from last classes. Prom Night is held every year in our school in January.
Students have been preparing for the prom for months. It is not just a unique party but it is also 100 days’ time before taking their leaving exams – Matura exams. The event, which celebrates both the beginning of adulthood and the end of high school, is something every Polish teenager look forward to.
They had to buy elegant dresses, shoes, suits (girls must have special underwear for the event) had tickets printed and arranged for a catering company to supply food for refreshments. For committee members were in charge of the decorations, which reflected the theme of their prom “ Moonlight Night”. Some parents take picture of their grown up sons and daughters before they leave for the prom. All students gather in a school gym at 8 pm. and dance together with invited partners and with friends from the class. When the clock strikes 12 (at midnight) all students stop dancing and start wishing their teachers all the best, lots of happiness, the best students in the future and they thank them for everything. All of that what happen during the night is documented by digital cameras in order they will have a video film with the event. The end of the night is at about 4 or 6 am.
It seems to be long but believe it or not it is very quickly passed time. It is always a wonderful night, one that will give all the students pleasant memories for the rest of their lives.

OUR ARCHIVE

Here's a short collection of our old posts:

NOVEMBER 2008

MESSINA AND ITS LEGENDS

Messina is rich of myths because this city situated in Sicily was an important Greek colony in the past. Many legends and stories have as place the strait which separates it from Italian peninsula.

It’s told, for example, according to Greek mythology, that Cronos was convinced by his mother Gaea to evirate his father Uranus. He evirated him through a scythe, so the name of Messina was Zancle at that time (whose meaning is “scythe” in Greek language). Besides, Aphrodite, another important Greek divinity, was born from water foam.

Another myth regards Cariddi, who was a woman before her transformation, made by the main Greek god, Zeus, into a terrible underwater monster. She created whirlpools in the strait of Messina which could swallow the ships that were there and had to pass near one of the two monsters. Cariddi was on the opposite side of the strait where another terrible monster’s cave, whose name was Scilla, was. These whirlpools were originated by the meeting of two water foams.

Finally, another legend speaks about a person called Nicola, whose nickname was Colapesce for the fact that he could swim easily. He always narrated the discoveries made underwater after his crossings and once upon a time he found also a treasure and became so famous that
Frederick II, Emperor of the ancient Kingdom of Sicily, wanted to put him to the test: first of all, he threw a cup into the strait of Messina, but Colapesce took it immediately, he threw a crown in a deeper place for a second time, but Colapesce returned again, so he threw a ring in a place deeper than the second time and, this time, Colapesce didn’t come back.

According to this story, Colapesce had seen underwater that Sicily was put on three columns and, between these, one was damaged, so he decided to remain underwater forever and support this column to avoid Sicily sank.
(Italy)

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HISTORICAL LEGEND ABOUT LYSA GORA MOUNTAIN

It is the second, highest peak of our local mountains. In the past, in pagan time (according to Jan Dlugosz cronicles) there was a temple of three gods there. People who lived nearby gathered there to pray, to pay tribute to old gods and to make sacrifices to the gods so that they would ensure a good harvest. In 1806 earthin urns were found there.

Besides the temple, there was a huge castle where lived a proud Lady with very tall servants – giants. She probably devastated the army of Aleksander Wielki and afterwards she wanted people to pay tribute to her as a goddess of Diana. For her impudence and bad things that happened in the castle a clap of thunder smashed the magnificent building into a pile of stones. They can be seen to this day. Inhabitants of the land found huge bones of prehistoric animals so it was easy for them to believe that in the castle lived giants.
Bones were hung on the walls of churches and later on in a glass cupboard. Nowadays the only evidence of pagan ritual on Lysa Gora peak is a two kilometers long stone wall around the mountain. It was made in VIII or IX century.

From Christianity time the mountain was a place of setting a June fire – Sobotka. However, the custom was over in 1869 by Benedictine monks because it was connected with a fair which finished with vandalism and debauchery. The Sobotka rituals were moved on Witoslawska mountain where Zielone Swiatki was celebratedand a few thousand of people came here to a church fair. Lysa Gora mountain and Holy Cross monastery were visited by many pilgrims for years. In 1861 patriotic protests were organised there by about thousand of people.

(Poland)

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THE LEGEND OF ST KINGA, PATRON OF SALT MINERS

Part I
In the 13th century a young Polish prince,called Bolesław, of the Piast Dynasty, decided to get married and forhis wife chose a beautiful Hungarian princess of the Arpad Dynasty, Kinga. When Bolesław’s proposal was accepted, the loving father asked Kinga what she would like to get from him as a wedding present. Kinga replied that she wanted no gold and jewels, since they only brought unhappiness and tears. She wanted something that could serve the people she was going to live with. Her request surprised the king greatly – she asked for salt. The king was determined to keep his promise. He offered Kinga the biggest and most prosperous salt deposits in Hungary – the Marmaros salt mine. However, nobody knew what Kinga could do with the treasure. On her way to Poland the princess visited the mine. She threw her engagement ring inside.
When the party arrived in Poland and was approaching Kraków, Kinga stopped and asked the miners to look for salt. They started digging and suddenly hit something very hard. It was a lump of salt. When they broke it, everyone saw what was hidden inside – Kinga’s engagement ring! That is how the Hungarian princess brought salt to our country.

(Poland)

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ST KINGA - patron of salt miners

To commemorate princess Kinga, 101 metres under the ground, down in the mine there is the world’s biggest underground chapel, dedicated to Saint Kinga. Right now in Wieliczka there is the most famous salt mine museum. Wieliczka Salt Mine was established in medieval times. It is a World Heritage Site, located 101 meters below the surface, it is over 50 meters long, 15 meters wide, 12 meters high. It receives up to a million visitors yearly. Here is the link to the mine’s homepage: http://www.kopalnia-wieliczka.pl/english/

She founded many churches and hospitals, she ransomed Christians captured by the Turks, and served the poor and ill. Her cult was confirmed in 1690 The feast day devoted to Kinga is celebrated on July 24. She attainted officially the sainthood in 1999 by John Paul II, Polish pope.
(Poland)

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OUR SCHOOL HABIT

This Friday our school is going to celebrate our Patron's Day. It is Saint Nicolas' Day.
Every year the whole school go to a mess to church in the morning. Then, we come back to school and pupils from each class give presents to each other. In this day pupils are wearing red caps on their heads. There is also an artistic program which some talented pupils take part in to give some performance and joy to others. It involves singing songs, giving some funny speeches and dances. Finally, there are some competitions with rewards. Our Patron's Day is celebrated from a few years and the tradition is pass on from one generation to another.
We are proud of such a special patron.
(Poland dec.04.2008)

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TRADITIONS NEAR MESSINA ABOUT SAINT NICHOLAS’S DAY

In a town of about ten thousands of inhabitants near Messina, called Villafranca Tirrena, Saint Nicholas is the patron saint and is celebrated every year on the 5th and 6th December.

On the first day, Villafranca returns to the past: the fishermen of the town carry a ship on traditional slipway boards from the seaside to the main square, while the princely court, composed of dancing women of the people, knights, halberdiers, harquebusiers, flag-wavers, acrobats, jugglers and fire-eating men, moves from the Castle of Bauso (this is the ancient name of Villafranca Tirrena) to catch up the fishermen. There, the prince of Bauso gives the keys of the city to fishermen, after recognizing this popular festivity. Afterwards, the fishermen continue to carry the ship near the ancient castle, where they make a bonfire of it in honour of Saint Nicholas.

On the 6th December, instead, there is the Saint Mass in the morning and later a procession along the streets of the town with Saint Nicholas’s simulacrum.

The snaps in this article were taken the first day.

text and photos by Antonino Stramandino

Our adventure goes on. Why "our"? Which "adventure"? Well, we'll tell you.

We are a group of Italian and Polish students who have decided to catch the opportunity to follow a new and motivating way to learn offered by eTwinning.

What's eTwinning? It's part of Comenius, the well-known program of the UE for the development of Lifelong Learning. Consider that at the moment there are already more than 53,000 members all over the European Community.

Our "adventure" started when two of our teachers decided to start a partnership because they wanted to give us the possibility to enlarge our knowledge in more fields.

First of all English competence. Yes, English, as the Italian among us don't speak Polish and the Polish don't understand Italian. So, if we want to communicate we have to use the common foreign language we study and to perfectionate it.

Then writing competence. Because we have to compose text or articles about various topics, especially the ones related to our respective traditions and culture. It's a really stimulating activity that helps the development of our intercultural dialogue.

And then ICT competence. Because we publish our texts online so we have to learn how multimedial tools are correctly used.

What else? Ah, yes! We learn, together, with and from each other. That's why we've decided to give this title to our project. And what can be better than learning and enjoying yourself at the same time?