La Befana, Carnevale, And Easter

These celebrations represented the resurrection of new life in spring after the cold, frozen winter. Celebrations like these were celebrated in many countries, especially ones of great Catholic populations. Soon when christianity appeared in Rome, religious leaders encouraged the rituals into the faith. Christians and others who encourage this holiday celebrate this time of feasting from January sixth to Shrove Tuesday, The Epiphany to the Day before Ash Wednesday (Thompson, 1998). This time period became known as Carnival; Carnival in Latin means farewell to meat. The motto farewell to meat relates to the fasting that is coming with the Lenten season celebrated by the Christian faith. “Carnival” was soon spread worldwide. In France, this celebration became known to may as Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” says the authors of

Christians commonly celebrate the New Year January 1st, according to the Julian calendar; For orthodox Christians whom follow the Gregorian calendar New Year is marked on January 14th or sometime around that date. (Christian Observances and Rituals) Orthodox or not the New Year is a day celebrated most Christians, many attending mass. Another commonly celebrated day is, “Epiphany Sunday, commonly known as Three Kings’ Day in the United States, is on January 6. It celebrates the three wise men’s visit to baby Jesus and also remembers his baptism, according to the Christian Bible’s events. The United States (US) Virgin Islands observe the day as a public holiday.” (Epiphany in the United States) On this day children, bake cookies and cakes in honor of the Three Wise Men. This day is exactly twelve days after Christmas, another Christian

The central focus and purpose of teaching this learning segment is to educate students about other holidays and cultures, but specifically focusing on Christmas in Italy. While this unit is essentially literacy based, it is also linked to Social Studies when students use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of themes, traditions, and stories in different countries. This unit supports diversity within the classroom and it will expose students to the different ways of celebrating holidays among various cultures. The essential literacy strategy used throughout this unit is to analyze, explain, and describe the similarities and differences between Christmas in Italy and Christmas in their own home in the United States. The students are required to examine the way Christmas is celebrated in Italy in a variety of different ways, through both teacher directed guidance and student centered learning.]

However, there were some people groups, like the Italian Americans, who did not agree with the city’s actions. The Italo-Americans were not pleased with the city's decision to change the famous holiday. The Italian-American people felt that yes, there should be at holiday to celebrate the Native People of America, but that holiday should not replace one that was established in the late 1930s.

During the month of August many Italians go on vacation and business are closed. Additionally, businesses are closed on Catholic holidays and other national days off.

Appearance is considered very important. Italian people are generally well dressed and may expect others to be the same.

Coming from a heavily Italian family line, there are some traditions and rituals that we do and some that we do not do because we have become Americanized. For example, there are certain Italian foods that typically do not appear at the dinner tables of American families during holidays. During Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, my family makes a special Italian appetizer called “antipasto”, which is generally spicy Italian offerings, cold cuts, and special Italian cheeses. Also during those dinners, there is a heavy pasta dish that is eaten before the main course. During Christmas, my family shows off our Italian culture by putting up the “presepio”. “The presepio (manger or crib) represents in miniature the Holy Family in the stable and is the center of Christmas for families” (Christmas in Italy: Traditions 1). My family has kept these examples of Italian culture alive and we practice them in America. A part of our Italian culture that my family gave up in America is the Italian language. The older generations of family that were Italian born typically threw away the Italian language when coming to America. English took precedent over any other language because it was the language that was spoken by the majority of Americans. In America my family has adjusted to the American traditions, but kept some parts of Italian culture alive in our American

Mona and I had an interesting talk about how her family mixed the American and Italian cultures together while they were raising her. She told me that many of the traditions and rituals to commemorate a death in Italy are not practiced in the United States. This is mainly due to the villages in Italy being so small, allowing the people to be more familiar with each other. A funeral in Italy depends a great deal on the family and their financial position in the village. The more money, the more prestigious and elaborate the event would be. Mona said that the deceased is kept in a casket at the family home, and that people come to the house to remember the dead.

In Chile, there are lots of Holidays such as... (January 1), Easter, Labor Day (May 1), Naval Battle of Iquique (May 21), Independence Day (september 18) and some others are, Dia De La Raza, Saints Day, and Christmas. If you were wondering what saints day was, family members go across cities and pay their deceased relatives homage and leave flowers on their graves. Sometimes this holiday may take over a two day period. Also Dia De La Raza is Columbus, day which in America we call it Dia De La Raza.

In addition, all passed generations of the Morocho have all been catholic because of their belief and faith in God and Jesus. The Morocho family has all turned to God and Jesus in time of need and thanked Jesus for giving them everything they have. An essential part of being catholic is children have to be baptized, do their first communion, and confirmation. Going through baptism, first communion, and confirmation give them the fundaments to learn more about their religion also how to communicate with god. Oscar a member of the Morocho family stated, “I learned the importance of believing in my religion and I pray for my whole family and I, using what I have learned in religion school”. In the Morocho’s Family parents sign their children up to be part of the play of Jesus birth in Bethlehem.” Through religion school they learn to say prayers and make the sign of the cross that is used in mass and in the mass of Christmas Eve. Lourdes said “We praise Jesus on Christmas because he is the Son of God and did so many things for us for example he sacrificed himself for us”. All in all, purpose of practicing religion on Christmas Eve is to honor Jesus’s birth.

Italian-Americans, especially Sicilians, celebrate St. Joseph’s Day, since he is regarded as a patron saint. Joseph (San Giuseppe) is believed to protect the family, and the poor or otherwise ill fated. That’s why large feasts, at time accommodating somewhere around 100 people, are typically held on March 19 in his honor, though honor is clearly shown to more than Joseph.

The first part of Easter is Lent, a period of about 40 days before Easter Sunday that begins on Ash wednesday. During Lent, Christians prepare for Easter. They consider it as a time for penance, “a time to show sorrow for sins and to seek forgiveness.”2 One common form of penance is fasting, which limits the kinds or amounts of foods eaten. Holy Week is the final week of Lent which recalls the events before Jesus's death and resurrection. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week that celebrates the story of Jesus' “triumphant entry into Jerusalem”.2 Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, remembers Jesus's last meal and his imprisonment. On this day Jesus went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, when his friend Judas betrayed him and arrived with a group of men with swords who had been sent by the priests to arrest Jesus. Jesus was then questioned by the council and it was decided he would be crucified. Holy Saturday is essentially a day of “solemn vigil”.1 The primary activity of the day comes at nightfall as the observance of Jesus’ Resurrection approaches. Easter Sunday is followed by a 50-day period ending on Pentecost, a Jewish festival for Christians to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus Christ's disciples on the seventh Sunday after

Carnevale celebrates the end of winter and the coming spring season. It is a festive season, which occurs immediately before Lent. Celebrations are held all over Italy from Venice and Milan down to the villages and towns of Sicily. The celebration of Carnevale is the Italian version of Mardi Gras in New Orleans with oranges instead of beads. Many of the biggest celebrations

In Italy everything is mainly homemade they don’t really go out much.Chiara really likes when her grandmother cooks because her grandmother makes a really good lasagna and all the ingredients are fresh nothing is from a bag, can, or is frozen.

Your loyalty and commitment are first and foremost to your family. The need to maintain unity is top priority. Even if you lived out in another country or finally met your family for the first time you will be received with love and affection. Trust is another value, developing peoples trust is essential if you hope to have a relationship with an Italian. Like any person trust takes time to earn and easy to lose. Once you gain an Italians trust you are considered part of their family¸ therefor the acceptance should not be taken lightly. Last but not least, their next value is Respect. For Italians if you do not show respect you will never earn their trust. To communicate with Italians and to gain their trust or respect one must use proper speech, manners and come appropriately dressed. Italians attitude towards age is very good. They view the elderly as family, Italians tend to pay more respect to their countries older citizens and family