Thursday, November 01, 2007

A THOUGHTFUL STUDENT


There is no doubt whatsoever that tomorrow, I Morti [the Day of the Dead] is a festa in Sicily but no one is quite sure about today: schools and offices have been closed, as have chemists, whilst most shops, though not all supermarkets, have been open. Raffaele the hairdresser has been open as normal today but will close at 2pm tomorrow - he usually stays open through the siesta hours on Fridays and Saturdays - and my local supermarket will be open as normal tomorrow.


However, a student who came for a private English lesson this afternoon was in no doubt that today is a festa, although she is working, and brought along this tray of cannoli and sfinci [sweet fritters]. Therefore I have declared it a festa too. Auguri!


10 comments:

Ellee Seymour said...

Yes, All Souls' Day, my family church usually reads out the name of my father who died five years ago.

James Higham said...

Great Day - day of the dead. Should be more of it.

Crushed said...

What a name for it!

Il Morti...

Oh, Italian is such a resonant tongue...

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Ellee. I know you still miss your Dad and hope the reading out of his name helps a little.
Hi, James. Hmmm....
Hi, Crusshed. Yes, it is, isn't it? Yet it's quite a jovial festival.

Gledwood said...

So i morti is "all souls' day" equivalent?

I've heard repeatedly that Bonfire Night LONG predated Guy Fawkes... the ancient British festival of lights... in fact "bonfire" stands for "bone fire"... as in the bones of human sacrifice!

I'm not sure it's even coincidence that bonfire night and Divali the Hindu "festival of lights" so very often coincide...

After all, we are all "Indo-Europeans" as the saying goes...

Whispering Walls said...

Auguri WL! Have you ever visited the catacombs in Palermo? One of the mosy chilling places I've ever seen!

Ellee Seymour said...

Yes, a creepy time all round.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Gleds. Yes - I Morti, literally "The Dead" = All souls' Day. I didn't know that about bonfire / bone fire. We are certainly all Indo-Europeans linguistically. Hi, WW. Yes, I found it very scary! I took schoolkids there. They, of course, thought it was great! Hi, Ellee. Yes, I find Hallowe'en scary!

jmb said...

I always thought All Saints'Day was the more important feast but I suppose it varies depending on the locale.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, jmb. Definitely All Souls' here but people visit the cemetery on both days.

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