Buon Capodanno!

“Christmas with your family, New Year’s with whomever you want,” goes the Italian saying.

New Year’s Eve is a huge tradition in Italy, with the obligatory cenone ("mega-dinner") and a traditional brindisi ("toast") at midnight… not to mention the fireworks!

As for the dinner, frequently people eat out at restaurants that have put together enormous (and usually enormously expensive!) menus. My mother-in-law says she heard that the evening’s menu at Harry’s Bar was going for 900 euros!

Needless to say, with the exchange rate working against us, we joined the ranks of the apparently record number of Italians (who have massive inflation working against them) having their cenone at home!

There’s so much regional diversity of traditions in Italy that, as far as I know, there’s only one dish that everybody agrees that you absolutely have to eat on Capodanno. That’s lentils! Eating lentils is supposed to bring you money in the New Year, kind of like how eating black-eyed peas in the south of the US is supposed to bring good luck for the upcoming year. (Luckily, not only did I eat the requisite lentils, but I even found black-eyed peas here for once, so maybe this year will really be a lucky one!)

As for the rest of our feast, my husband was the chef du jour and, to his credit, the meal was fantastic! Antipasti galore, fettucine with smoked salmon in a cream sauce, not to mention the long-awaited (or dreaded, as the case may be... more on that later, together with his recipes, if he lets me post 'em...) cotechino! And our toast at midnight was accompanied by French champagne. Mmm!!

But this New Year’s in Venice was without fireworks. For years, the city apparently hasn’t had the funds to offer, like nearby towns do, an official fireworks show.

Official fireworks or no, Italians frequently fire off their own, like the famous private ones around Naples every year (like in the picture at right). Big 'uns, sometimes to their own detriment. I remember not too many years ago that there were over a thousand people injured and several killed, particularly in the region around Naples. Even this year, that region topped the list for its share of the nation’s nearly 600 fireworks-related injuries, and the only fireworks-related death was linked to a malfunctioning homemade one. (Some of these, among the several metric tons of illegal fireworks confiscated by the police in the days immediately preceding capodanno, were appparently even given fake “tradenames,” like that of Brazillian soccer hero “Maradona,” or –my favorite! – “Ratzinger.”)

But fireworks, legal or otherwise, were out of the question in Venice last night, particularly in Saint Mark’s Square, the ceremonial center of the city. Rightly so, because of the potential damage they could cause to the basilica or renaissance monuments…

Too bad there was not any public celebration to take the place of the forbidden fireworks, though… such as that of cities like Verona which organized festive concerts for residents and visitors alike.

But this is a long-standing beef I have with Venice, love the city though I do… Always forbidding visitors to do things like *gasp* eating in Saint Mark’s Square! I understand the reasons why they don’t want folks to do it, but they just put up little signs and then fine people when they do, rather than taking the effort to educate people about, or even provide them with, alternatives.

Still, I guess we'll see whether or not, as the French say (and the Italians heartily agree), "the more things change, the more they stay the same"! In the meantime, my greatest wishes to all for a fortunate and peaceful 2006 (including, not least, Venice, the city's relatively few remaining residents, its many, many visitors, and those who love it no matter where they are!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Buon capodanno anche a te!
Just wanted to remind you of the very important 'Festa della Befana' tomorrow. I am particularly fond of it, since today it is my birthday, and my nickname for my entire childhood was 'befanina'.
Have a very happy new year and thank you for your great blog.
Saluti,

Eliana Marsella

La Befana
La Befana vien di notte
Con le scarpe tutte rotte,
Col vestito alla romana,
Viva, viva la Befana! The Befana comes at night
With her shoes all broken,
Dressed in the Roman style.
Hurray, hurray for the Befana!

The name "Befana" must take its origin from a corruption of the word "Epifania" - Epiphany - but somehow has come to mean an ugly old witch. On January 5, eve of the Epiphany, she flies around on her broomstick delivering sweets to the good children and lumps of coal to the bad ones: they find them by their beds when they wake up in the morning on January 6. (As there are no bad children nowadays - or more likely because coal fires are no longer in use - a black sweet takes the place of real coal.)

But the real meaning of Epiphany is still celebrated on January 6, which is a national holiday in Italy and a feast-day of the Catholic church. There are processions in many towns, where people act out the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the stable in Bethlehem.

In Rome, one of the traditional processions takes place around Piazza del Popolo, ending at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which every year hosts an exhibition of cribs from all over the world. Another procession makes its way to St. Peter's Square, arriving in time for the Pope's Angelus blessing at noon on January 6.

At Sutri, a small town on the Via Cassia less than an hour's drive from the capital, tableaux are staged among tombs and monuments dating from Roman times, which are lit up with torches all evening. In the village of Ostia Antica, which boasts a Renaissance castle as well as an archeological site, the Wise Men arrive on horseback while carols are sung in the church of Sant'Aurea.

In Florence a procession takes place from the church of Santa Croce to the Duomo.

"La Befana" marks the end of Christmas festivities:

Epifania
tutte le feste porta via.

The following day the children return to school and their parents go back to work....but it won't be long till Carnival time!