Photo credit: Janet Donovan & Gloria Hidalgo
If the holiday party at the residence of Ambassador Claudio and Laura Denise Bisogniero was meant to give a brief respite to a nation in distress, they succeeded. Great Italian Opera as well as traditional Chirstmas songs indeed lifted the spirits of guests, while outside the doors of Firenze House life was feeling more precarious just after the Oval Office address to the nation by President Barack Obama on worldwide threats to our nation’s security.
It didn’t hurt that former CIA and FBI cheif was in attendance as well as Supreme Court Justice Alito with his wife…….
The Italians take Christmas seriously: “For many Italian-American families a big Christmas Eve meal of different fish dishes is now a very popular tradition! It’s known as The Feast of the Seven Fishes (‘Esta dei Sette Pesci’ in Italian). The feast seems to have its root in southern Italy and was bought over to the USA by Italian immigrants in the 1800s. There are different theories as to why there are seven fish dishes. Some think that seven represents the seven days of creation in the Bible, others say it represents the seven holy sacraments of the Catholic Church. But some families have more that seven dishes! You might have nine (to represent the Christian trinity times three), 13 (to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples) or 11 (for the 11 disciples without Jesus or Judas!)!” Wikipedia!
“The Christmas celebrations start eight days before Christmas with special ‘Novenas’ or a series of prayers and church services. Some families have a ‘Creppo’ or Yule Log which is burnt through the Christmas season. In Italian Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Buon Natale’, in Sicilian it’s ‘Bon Natali’ and in Ladin (spoken in some parts of the northern Italian region of South Tyrol) it’s ‘Bon/Bun Nadèl’. Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages. Epiphany is also important in Italy. On Epiphany night, children believe that an old lady called ‘Befana’ brings presents for them. The story about Befana bringing presents is very similar to the story of Babushka. Children put stockings up by the fireplace for Befana to fill. In parts of northern Italy, the Three Kings might bring you present rather than Befana. On Christmas day ‘Babbo Natale’ (Santa Claus) might bring them some small gifts, but the main day for present giving is on Epiphany.
