RELIGION AND RAVIOLI

The weekend again saw the festival of the Sacred Heart or Sacro Cuore and, although I wouldn't describe myself as a religious person, there is something that I find very uplifting and restful about watching groups of people gathering together to celebrate their religion in a joyful, peaceful  way without causing any harm or disurbance to anyone.  It may be a small festival and it may not be very sophisticated but it is, quite simply, "good" in the Christian sense of the word.

I was invited to watch the procession from a friend's balcony and we had a great time chatting out there, intermittently watching the proceedings, listening to the music coming from the church courtyard, exclaiming at the fireworks and finally, eating.

For yes, there has to be food and this year the programme proudly announced the Sagra (food festival) of ricotta-filled ravioli in sauce - not any old sauce, you understand, but a rich tomato sauce that is lovingly cooked for a long time with 'strattu and pork.  The cook serving the trays of ravioli told my friend's husband that she had earlier made no less than 1,000 ravioli by hand! Well, faced with that information, I'm sure you would agree that it would have been churlish to leave any of the tempting offerings on the individual trays on which they were served. Everyone who bought a tray got ricotta ravioli with not just sauce, but a generous portion of the pork used to flavour it, a sausage, bread and cheese and some sweet ravioli to finish.  Of course, it wouldn't have been an Italian summer festival without ice cream and I had made and taken along some of  that old stand-by of mine which I call "chocolate thingies".

Keep gathering in peace, cari modicani, and I hope the "ravioli lady", once she has recovered from Sunday, gets to make many more!

A FESTA WITH FRIENDS

I was delighted to be invited to watch the Festa del Sacro Cuore procession from my friend Marisa's balcony on Sunday and here she is with her husband [with me in the centre]:

The procession takes a slightly different route every year so that, if you have sufficient Sicilian pazienza, you will eventually see it from near your home!

There are those who scoff at the Mediterranean habit of carrying saints' statues around towns and villages but to that I would say that it is no bad thing to gather together in peace and spread a little joy.  Everyone is free to join in the prayers that are said along the route, whether from their balconies, sitting rooms or down in the streets - or you can just watch and enjoy the atmosphere. And, if you were a statue, wouldn't you want some fresh air once a year?

We had a little party on Marisa's balcony and of course, there was pizza. Then there was Marisa's cake and I had made some marshmallows to take along:

Grazie, Marisa!

EVENING FESTA

On Sunday evening a friend invited me to enjoy the festa del Sacro Cuore - the parish festival organised by the little church on the corner, which I hold in great affection - from her nearby balcony and I was delighted to accept.

The festa consists of special prayers and religious services and then, in the evening, the statue of Christ is carried around the district to joyous music and with a crowd following it.  On the route, people put up charming little altars where the procession and passers-by can stop for a moment to pray or think. An hour or two later the statue is brought back to the church, to the accompaniment of even louder music but the celebrations are not finished yet!  Christ is taken for three speedy turns around the square before he can rest!  Then the fireworks begin and I must say, what Modica lacks in population it makes up for in producing noise on these occasions.  

Luna Rossa, a Renzo Arbore cover band, played in the church courtyard throughout the proceedings and were still going strong when I left, just before midnight.

My friend, her family and I also enjoyed these magnificent pizze, from left to right, a wild boar sausage and rocket one [which I hadn't tried before and which was delicious] a Margherita and a capricciosa:

A cynical stranger might say,

"Is that it? A few stalls, a band and a statue being carried around?"

This, however, would be to miss the point, which, apart from the religious aspects of the event, is to be together.

Luna Rossa, Renzo Arbore Cover Band - Luna Rossa

A LADY FROM FRANCE

The little Sacro Cuore Church and the whole community of Modica was very happy to welcome the relics of St Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes on Saturday:

Body of St Bernadette Soubirous, which lies in a crystal coffin. Her hands and face have a light wax covering.
Image:  Parrocchia Sacro Cuore Modica on facebook

St Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes

The relics in the Sacro Cuore Church
Image:  Parrocchia Sacro Cuore Modica on facebook

The Parish had produced an informative booklet about the life and visions of St Bernadette. The relics remained with us until Sunday evening, when they were taken on the next stage of their journey to visit other churches in the diocese.

Besides being the protectress of Lourdes, St Bernadette is a protectress of the sick, shepherds and shepherdesses, poor people and those who are ridiculed for their faith.

I have the following cards of Lourdes in my collection of old postcards and thought you would like to see them. Every time I come across the card showing the two ladies, I wonder who they were - mother and daughter, mistress and maid, friends?  If one or both of them were ill, I hope Bernadette helped them.

Birthplace of Bernadette Soubirous

Anne Murray - Song of Bernadette

Chanson de Bernadette - Canzone di Bernadette [from TV mini-series Lourdes, dir. Lodovico Gasparini, 2000]

GLADDENING THE HEART

Sadly, the palm trees that used to grace the courtyard of the Sacro Cuore Church fell victim to the attentions of the punteruolo rosso three years ago and the yard looks a little forlorn without them.  Someone, however, has had the idea of planting these stelle di Natale where they used to be, a sight to gladden the heart, if only for a little while.  I was especially cheered by them on a cold, rainy Saturday.

SABATO MUSICALE - ITALIA, ITALIA

Picture the scene:  a small Sicilian town on the last Saturday morning of Italy's two-week summer break.  It is very hot and the streets are almost as deserted as they were on the ferragosto bank holiday itself.  The few shops that are open on the modern via Sacro Cuore are offering massive discounts to get rid of their summer stock but even with these, they are empty.  In the supermarket there are only three customers and you can see that the staff are itching to get to the beach. The two cars that are illegally parked right outside a bar go unnoticed for now as our local vigile is sheltering from the sun in the perfumery and is enjoying himself chatting to the young lady assistants.  Raffaele, my hairdresser, who reopened for a few hours yesterday, had said I could go back for a comb-out at twelve today - this is the only time of year when you need to make what passes for an "appointment" - but had called an hour before to ask if I could go earlier so that he and his staff could all escape back to the Marina.  Grumpily, I go and he greets me with,  "You have the sea in your eyes" so what can a girl do but melt?

The economy continues to go down the drain, the rest of Europe panics but the Italians, who know that all things pass, are still at the beach - living.  I love you, Italy.

And I cannot let August pass without reposting the quintessential summer song.  Take it away, signor Paoli:

Gino Paoli - Sapore di sale

AN UNLIKELY SAVIOUR

Valentine's decoration in the Via Sacro Cuore.

I was having a good morning till I went into the bank. I hate the places at the best of times and at the worst of times they really scare me! Today I was not happy to be told that it is going to take them ten working days to clear a cheque and I was feeling very disgruntled by the time I'd acquired some heavy shopping and was on my way to work.

Then a dear elderly chap whom I often see and who has always greeted me effusively, though I don't know his name and I'm sure he doesn't know mine, insisted on carrying my shopping bag down the street to the school, although he was really headed in the other direction. My mood and the day suddenly became sunny.

A little kindness really can help in more ways than we can imagine.

A SORRY SIGHT

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the fact that the two palm trees in front of the Sacro Cuore Church here in Modica have been infected by the red palm weevil and have to be cut down. This is how the entrance to the Church now looks.

SOME UNWELCOME VISITORS

Sicily has had some unwelcome visitors in the form of the punteruolo rosso, or red palm weevil, for two years now. This insect is destroying many of the island's lovely date palms and last night I was very sorry to learn that the two palm trees in front of the Sacro Cuore Church, under which I have so often sheltered from the sun, are affected. A student of mine who is an agronomist says that the weevil arrived from Egypt and that the only treatment is to cut affected palms down so that is the fate in store for the Church trees.

Image: Wikimedia

In Italy the red palm weevil has also reached Campania, Lazio, Puglia, Sardinia and Tuscany.

MIDNIGHT MUSINGS

Today has been as busy as any other in the shops and bars [Good Friday not being a holiday in Italy] the traffic has been as chaotic as ever and the lunchtime cacophony of which I am so fond did not disappoint. Why, then, did I feel as though something was missing? Why did it seem, somehow, too quiet? Later I realised: I had not heard the bells of the Sacro Cuore Church which normally punctuate my life; these were silenced late on Thursday and will sound again at 00.01 on Sunday morning. When I think of this, I just want to hug my adopted town to myself, for keeping to a time-honoured tradition.

Last week I sent a book about Modica to a friend in the UK and my friend is now having a good laugh at the mistranslations to be found in it. [This happens when publishing houses don't use qualified, mother-tongue translators -professional translators translate into, not from, their mother tongue - and the mechanics of translation may make another post one day.] Among the gems in this tome are the fact that , in the "Syphilis museum" , about which I wrote here, "you can see "butts which cured syphilis" [the "butts" were a version of the French barrels into which mercury was pumped whilst the unfortunate patient sat there] and the news that the town has a district called "Deaf". It does, indeed, have a district called La Sorda ["the Deaf One"] and I live in it! A deaf woman once owned a famous café up here.

Reader, wouldn't you like to live in a town where "butts" cure syphilis, there is a district called "Deaf" and, what is more, people have surnames which translate as Orangeblossom, Honey, Clove, Then-tomorrow [my personal favourite] and April?

UN PAIO DI FOTO

Just a couple of photos for you this afternoon; we have got our blue sky back and so I went around snapping what took my fancy. The juxtaposition of the almond tree among the palms struck me in this garden as I passed and I have always liked the statue of Christ looking out over the town and, hopefully, protecting it, from the other side of the Sacro Cuore Church.