Burning Celebration

Tue, 16 Jan 2007
Small town north eastern Italy, at the Moro family house, for a week or so. There are many decorations for Christmas still up around town, all showing a 5 pointed star with a tail. There are also small Santa Clauses (Baba Natale) climbing ladders hung out windows (like a thief or voyeur). The region, the plains below the Alps down to the Adriatic Sea, including Friuli, celebrates another holiday on the 6^th of Jan. Gifts are given and decorations are witches. There are witches on brooms everywhere. Actually what happens is that a pointy hat wearing, wart nosed, green faced woman flies around on her broom delivering gifts for children, down the chimney to stockings on the fireplace mantel during the night of January 5.

This part of the region celebrates the occasion with enormous pyres. We saw many large fires in the countryside on our way to the official one in the center of a farm town called Concordia.

There was a huge tall haystack, with a skeleton of shipping pallets, in the middle of the river. All the town's people had gathered on the brides and banks. There were tables set up where men gave away sandwiches of a local soft sausage and hot wine. The fire was lit, eerie music was played, firecrackers were tossed, and the people stared in awe.

These odd traditions predate christians. People here have been burning pyres in early winter as a pagan ritual since when all of this area was Celtic. The christians couldn’t squelch the celebration 1700 years ago, so they co-opted it by putting a cross at the top of the fire. Cool.

Sima’s father had a big birthday party with all his friends and family. Really nice, everyone dressed well, gourmet food, lots of top wine. Later the men played cards with an unusual deck of narrow cards showing different medieval symbols and numbers. The game looked like Euchre. The party made me think of the ridiculous drunk driving laws in the states.

I am eating a lot. Everyday we have a three course lunch with wine, then espresso and grappa to finish. We all sit at the table at the same time, though you can start eating as soon as your food arrives. First course is usually some kind of pasta with a small amount of various sauce (no marinara yet) always in a bowl on top of the plate for the second course, which is meat. Then finished with salad. Then a different kind of wine for the fruit and sweet bread at the end. Many tangerines everywhere. Bread is eaten intermittently, taken from a little basket with many types. It is placed on the tablecloth in front of your dish, crumbs and all. Television is on the whole time. The event is wrapped up with espresso and a shot of liquor. Dinner is similar but a bit larger. This has been the same procedure at everyone’s house where I have eaten. I am beginning to understand the need for wine with food to help digest.

Everyone in Italy has very stylish eye glasses. Via means street (or way) and is pronounced VEE-a. "The car" is referred to as "the machine", not unlike how Yoopers refer to their snowmobile.

Photo shows Simonetta and her parents, Giovanni and Renata, with perpetually optimistic uncle Franco standing. Notice the witch decoration and the gift of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth book; plastic bottle in foreground is sparkling water.