La Befana
Dante Alighier
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La Rondine is published monthly by The Italian Club of St. Louis
President
Franco Giannotti
Internet Edition
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JANUARY MEETING
Annual Report to the Membership (The Annales of the Club)
| Commencing in 296 BC, the Pontiffs, or Chief
Priests of the Roman Republic, began to prepare, keep up to date, and display
annual records (Annales) of the official doings of the Republic.
The Annales were an important source of information. For example,
the great historian Livy (59 BC-AD 17) referred to them in writing his
History of the Founding of the City. This work, consisting of 142
books - only 35 of which are extant, tells of Roman history from the city's
founding in 753 BC until the death of Drusus in 9 BC. While some scholars
have condemned Livy because he included many of the legends, myths, and
"miraculous" events which he found in his various sources, overall
most historians regard his work as a valuable historical source. |
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RECAP OF DECEMBER MEETING
La storia di Natale - L'ultimo spirito
Performed by the Panettone Players
| The Club's December program traditionally opens with a brief play of
a Christmas-related story, always in Italian, by its theater group, the
Panettone Players. This year, our players presented an original adaptation,
called La storia di Natale - L'ultimo spirito, from the novel, A Christmas
Carol, by the great English writer Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol is
the story of a selfish and embittered miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who in a
single night either dreams, imagines (or perhaps actually experiences)
visits by three spirits who physically transport him into the past, the
present, and the future, thereby enabling him to understand the value of
charity, kindness, and good will, thus leading him to change his life,
his treatment of his employee, Bob Cratchit, and of Cratchit's young son,
Tiny Tim. Scrooge learns, as Dickens puts it, what it means "to live
Christmas well every day of the year." This novel, published shortly
before Christmas in 1843, was a huge and instant success and has exerted
tremendous influence throughout the English-speaking world ever since.
The Panettone Players' 16-minute performance described the visit of the "Spirit of things yet to come" to Scrooge's dingy room and how the spirit invisibly whisked Scrooge to the streets of London to listen to a conversation of three merchants discussing his lonely death. The spirit then transported Scrooge to the house of a buyer of stolen goods to enable him to witness, again invisibly, as his cleaning lady, his laundress, and even the undertaker "fenced" various items stolen from Scrooge's rooms after his death. The play closed with Scrooge warmly greeting Bob Cratchit and ultimately with a Christmas blessing to everyone by Tiny Tim. Panettone Players' Director Carolyn Stelzer adapted the story from the original novel and also played the part of Scrooge. Performers were Roger Gennari who played the narrator and the spirit; Audrey Giovanni, the laundress and Tiny Tim; Joseph Mangogna, who opened the performance with a traditional English carol "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" and also played a merchant and the undertaker; Eugene Mariani, the fence; Judy Ronzio, a merchant and the cleaning lady; Marianne Peri-Sack, a merchant; and James Tognoni who played both a merchant and Bob Cratchit. Joan Tognoni announced scene changes and Aldo Della Croce was the Italian language coach. The program included dinner and a visit by a very authentically attired Befana who, assisted by George Wehrle, distributed the traditional candy and coal. A special note of thanks also to Marie Cuccia Brand and Angela Mazzola who handled the dinner arrangements |
CHRISTMAS IN ITALY
 Christmas
traditions in Italy are based on the religion of Christianity. In the liturgy
of the Catholic Church, the season begins with Advent four weeks before
Christmas and lasts till after the 6th of January, the Feast of Epiphany.
In some regions, shepherds dressed with sandals and leggings tied with
crossing thongs go from house to house playing Christmas songs on pipes
called cornamuse. Every home prepares the presepio (manger
or crib) which represents in miniature the Holy Family in the stable and
can be very elaborate, with many figurines of shepherds, women, children
and animals very detailed in features and dress; a star hung at the top
of the manger completes the scene. During the Christmas season the churches,
as well as the private homes, try to outdo one another by displaying the
biggest and most stunning presepio. Children in Italy hang up their stockings
on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, which celebrates the visit of
the Three Kings to Bethlehem. Instead of Santa Claus, children are expecting
La Befana, a witch-like character who rides around on a broom. On Christmas
day the family gathers together to celebrate with a traditional dinner
which varies depending on the region. A special New Year Banquet is eaten
on the last day of the year, and this also varies with the locality. |
L'angolo del presidente
by Gene Mariani
| TANTI AUGURI PER UN FELICE ANNO NUOVO!
On behalf of our Officers and Directors, we wish to extend to each of our members our warmest best wishes for a most happy, peaceful and successful New Year. Also we would like to thank our members for their generous and enthusiastic support of the Club and all of its various programs and activities throughout the past year. Your membership is extremely important in making it possible for the Club to achieve its goals and objectives and is greatly and sincerely appreciated. HELP! Abbiamo bisogno d'un po`di aiuto In addition to the writing and production of our newsletter, La Rondine, which is a tremendous job all in itself, there is a certain amount of additional work required. This involves having copies made, folding, attaching mailing labels, affixing stamps, and getting the newsletters mailed. This takes about 2 or 3 hours each month. If anyone would be able to give us some help with this, it would be greatly appreciated. Please call Gene Mariani at 352-5484. Officers, Directors and Committee Members On occasion I am asked "exactly who holds what office?" or "who serves on what committees?" and similar organizationally oriented questions. In this regard, the following should provide some help. The Internet in Italy According to a research performed by the Osservatorio Bocconi, there are over 7 million Italians who have a potential access to the Internet either from home, school, or work, out of which 771 thousand use the Internet every day. The average user is a male (73%) between the age of 25 and 44 (61%), is satisfied with the services found on the Internet, but he complains about its slowness. |
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PROVERBIO STAGIONALE L'Epifania tutte le feste se le porta via. |
1999 CALENDAR
| January
Report by the Board to the membership on Club's 1998 performance and open discussion of issues of importance to members. 1 February I Partigiani. Recounting of actual experience serving as Italian partisans during the last days of WW II by Club member Valerio Bianco and others. March Venice. Slide presentation by Prof. Judy Mann of the St. Louis Art Musum. April Slide presentation on WU Arezzo Program by Prof. John Garganigo and awarding of Italian Club and Southwest Bank prizes for the study of Italian language. May Slide presentation on Italian Gardens by John Karel, Tower Grove Park Director. In conjunction with the presentation there will be a special tour of the park for members and friends. June Celebration of the Italian National Day. Report by Joseph Colagiovanni, Vice Consul of Italy. Presentation of Italian Heritage Award. July Presentation on the Millenium by Rev. Benedict T. Viviano, OP. |
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La Befana
A tutti gli amici e lettori la redazione della Rondine augura un Felice
Anno Nuovo! Prima dell'avvento di Santa Claus, importato dai paesi germanici
insieme all'albero di Natale, in Italia i bambini buoni ricevano i doni
natalizi da altri personaggi. In alcune zone da Gesù Bambino, il
25 dicembre; in altre da Santa Lucia, il 13 dicembre; ma più spesso
dalla Befana, che porta i doni nella notte dell'Epifania, il 6 gennaio.
Il nome befana, infatti, è la versione popolare del termine
greco epifania con cui viene denominata la festa che commemora la
visita dei Magi a Gesù. Ma che rapporto c'è tra la favolosa
vecchia che porta i doni e la festa cristiana dell'Epifania? A quanto pare,
nessuno. Tra l'altro gli studiosi delle tradizioni etnico-popolari fanno
notare come la Befana, al contrario di Gesù Bambino e Santa Lucia,
conservi anche un tratto ambiguo, quasi da strega.  Ma
come tutte le tradizioni anche la Befana si può analizzare con una
tecnica archeologica, cercando di scavare gli strati delle varie epoche
per arrivare alle tracce di quelle più antiche. La Befana potrebbe
avere una qualche parentela con la "vecchia" che si brucia in
piazza per festeggiare la fine dell'anno, simbolo antico e pagano della
ciclicità del tempo che continuamente finisce e ricomincia. La tradizione
della "vecchia" non è diffusa solo nelle zone in cui la
Befana distribuisce i suoi doni ma è molto presente anche nel nord
Italia dove pare sia derivata dalla tradizione dei popoli celtici che erano
insediati in tutta la pianura padana e su parte delle Alpi. I Celti celebravano
riti officiati da maghi-sacerdoti chiamati druidi, durante i quali grandi
fantocci di vimini venivano dati alle fiamme per onorare divinità
misteriose. Divinità che non dovevano essere molto benigne se è
vero quanto riferiscono alcune fonti: in epoche antiche e feroci all'interno
dei fantocci si legavano vittime sacrificali, animali e, talvolta, prigionieri
di guerra. Insomma la Befana è un personaggio molto meno rassicurante
degli altri portatori di doni che tutti abbiamo conosciuto da bambini.
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OPERE DI ITALIANI AL MUSEO DI ST. LOUIS
20. Paolo de Matteis. L'Annunciazione. (Olio su tela, 1712)
| In questo quadro il pittore napoletano Paolo de Matteis (Piano del Cilento 1662 - Napoli 1728) si ispira sia alla tradizione popolare che al Vangelo di San Luca: l'arcangelo Gabriele arriva in una nube ad annunciare la buona novella; in una mano tiene un giglio, simbolo di purezza; l'altra mano punta verso l'alto; dal cielo splendente di luce scendono lo Spirito Santo in forma di colomba e uno stuolo di angioletti. Sul lato destro del quadro la rappresentazione si fa umana: Maria, sorpresa, si alza dall'inginocchiatoio su cui sta leggendo; umiltà e accettazione sono evidenti nel gesto delle mani e nell'espressione del viso. In primo piano uno sgabello con un cestino per il cucito, una forbice e della tela indicano un lavoro in corso e dimostrano le virtù della vergine. L'Annunciazione di St. Louis rappresenta il pittore all'apice della sua carriera artistica |
I capolavori della poesia italiana
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5. Questo sonetto di Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) è compreso nella Vita nuova, opera che raccoglie le liriche composte tra il 1283 e il 1295 sul tema dell'amore per Beatrice. Il titolo dell'opera esprime il nuovo stato di grazia in cui il poeta trascorre la vita da quando ha fatto dell'amore di Beatrice una condizione rigenerante della propria esistenza. |
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
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