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.
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-know
n 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.
n 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
