Catholic Influences in Italian Culture

Buon Natale (Merry Christmas)

Many Italians living in the United States observe the Catholic religion.They continue to participate in traditions surrounding the Christian holiday of Christmas. These traditions began many generations ago throughout the homeland.There are over 17 million Italian-Americans living in the U.S. The Northeast is home to most Italians in the U.S. In Conn., 18.6 percent of the population are of Italian heritage. Many of these Italians celebrate holiday traditions that have been passed on through the generations.

In the United States the most recognized holiday tradition is the Christmas tree. Throughout the Italian community the symbol of the season is the presepio (the manger). The manger symbolizes the birth of Jesus, and a baby Jesus is placed inside on Christmas morning. Maria Franchi of Orlando Florida has been putting up a presepio since she was young.

“Ever since I was little, I have has a Presepio in my house, said Franchi. It reminds you of that the Christmas season is about celebrating the birth of Jesus.”

A traditional Presepio. Photo from cancanova.com.

Another tradition is to cook and eat seven different types of fish on Christmas Eve. The traditionally prepared fish symbolize the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. Sebastiano LaRosa of Conn. discusses his Christmas Eve Traditions.

“Every year my family and relatives get together and hold a huge feast on Christmas Eve, which it is usually held at my aunt’s house, said La Rosa. My aunt usually cooks all the fish that we will be eating for that feast. We prepare 7 fish to represent the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.”

On Christmas Day it is typical to go to mass either at midnight or in the morning. The holiday is celebrated with a large amount of food and the whole family gathers around the table. The day is filled with many different Italian dishes; most meals contain some form of pasta. Around the holidays, many Italian desserts are made. Some of the treats made for the season are struffoli (fried puffs dipped in honey), Pizzelle (thin cookie wafers), and Panettone (a sweet bread) .

Traditional Panettone

After eating, it is typical to play a popular Italian bingo game called tombola or play card games such as briscola and scopa.

Many people know the story of the epiphany and the three kings, but Italians have told an old folk story about la befana for centuries. La befana is an old woman who, as the story goes, was asked to follow the star by the three kings to see the birth of Jesus.  The befana declined the offer and was later asked to follow the star by a shepherd and again declined. Later, the befana decided to follow the star but she never found Jesus. Now, every year after Christmas she goes searching for Jesus and leaves every boy and girl she sees along the way a small toy if they behaved and leaves coal behind for those who misbehaved.

Although Italy is a world away from the United States many Italian Americans participate in traditions from the “old country” over the Christmas holiday season, bridging the gap created by the Atlantic Ocean.

Italian Christmas Traditions

Every culture has traditions surrounding major holidays. There are many Italians outside of Italy, that continue to celebrate traditions that began in the homeland. Each individual who participates and partakes in the Italian Christmas traditions has their own personal story and variations to share.

Saint Lucy
The Saint Lucy Society has been celebrating the life and death of St. Lucy for over 80 years. Alessandra Burgio Gugliotti speaks about the society, the saint, and her personal experiences.
Santa Lucia

Statue of St. Lucy at Saint Luke Parish in Hartford, Ct

 

Celebrating the Saints

Saints play a large role in Italian culture. They are celebrated on their feast day with a mass and a parade. This celebration of Saints continues today in both Italian and Italian-American culture.

Italian Saints and How they are Celebrated on Dipity.

Immigration Timeline

A Timeline of Italian immigration to the United States of America.

 

 

Get Connected

http://wbxapp.com/ne-italian-connect

The link above can help you stay connected to the Italian-American community in and surrounding Conn. The NE Italian Connect app can keep you connected and updated with the community while you are on the go. This app has been created for those who participate in Italian culture and those who simply wish to know more about the culture. The app’s features include RSS feeds to this blog and the the Italian American Girl Blog. It features pictures from current local Italian Events and offers an interactive poll. A map of the Italian American Stars is also featured because it is one of the most frequented Italian social clubs in Conn. This app is perfect for those who would like to stay updated on the latest events and happenings in the community. Mobile connections are the future, the world can literally be in the palm of your hand, so explore it.

Divided yet United

A map of 10 of the societies in the greater Hartford Area.

There are over 40 Italian clubs in the greater Hartford area. Why is the community so divided? This fact is particularly interesting because most of the Italian families in the area are all from different areas of Sicily. These different societies mainly represent different towns in the province of Siracusa (Syracuse).

Floridian Ladies Society member Alfina Rizza comments on this divide in the community.

“There are so many societies just in Hartford and the funny thing is that most of them are from different parts of Sicily, towns that are right next to each other and they all do the same thing at their club meetings, said Rizza. I am not sure why, at the risk of stereotyping, I think Italians always had this thing about their town being better than others and wanting to be in control and not compromising too much,” said Rizza.

The clubs are also divided by interests such as different saints, education, and calcio (soccer). Some have been established to help improve the community and promote community service such as UNICO. Others give out scholarships such as the Sons of Italy, and those such as the Floridian Ladies Society are strictly social.

 

Cianfaglione, “Back in 1960 ‘s to 7o’s when the Italians came to Conn. they emigrated by the thousands from different regions and towns. Entire families and paisans (fellow townsmen) came together to form different groups because they did not know the language or the area. They adopted the idea of let us stay together within our own people. Italians today do participate on a larger scale in groups such as NIAF (National Italian American Foundation) and the Sons of Italy. Now we participate together as a whole and as separate groups,” said President of the COM.IT.ES. N.Y Conn. Quintino.

Though at first the community seems to be divided by various categories, there are organizations such as the Sons of Italy, NAIF , and UNICO that bring together Italians from many areas of Italy. These groups also unite when it comes to participating in Columbus Day ceremonies. As the generations begin to age and some of the smaller societies begin to disappear, the community should become even closer.

Italian-Americans North v. South (Connecticut v. Florida) and Radio Italia

The Italian-American community is represented in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  The northeast has the highest percentages of Italians in the United States. Connecticut has the second largest percent of Italians in the country with 18.6% of the state population. New Haven County is home to 201,069 Italians and Hartford County is home to 134,654. When it was speculated that Conn. may have edged out Rhode Island to be first, the Italian community in Providence spoke out. Those in the Northeast community are very passionate about their culture.

Many southern states also have large numbers of Italian-American residents. Florida has 1,003, 977 Italian-American residents. Although Fla has more Italian-American residents than Ct, it appears that the idea of Italian heritage and culture seems stronger up north.

Phyllis Summa, a resident of both Fla. and Conn. agrees that the Italian culture is stronger in the northeast. According to the Order of the Sons of Italy they have 16 events in Connecticut and six in Florida for 2010.

“Up north there are activities every weekend in the community, but in florida there are more neighborhood activities versus cultural activities. Italians in Conn. are much more connected and intertwined. When my husband and I lived in Conn., we went to an event at least once a month, I think we have only been to a handful of cultural events since living in Florida. There are only a few Italian clubs in Florida like the Sons of Italy, Summa Said.”

Why does it seem that the community is more united and involved in the northeast?

Giovanni Vianello, former President of the now disbanded Club Culturale Italiano of Greater Orlando discusses why Italians up north are more united.

“The north has a much larger percentage of Italians per state than the southern states do, said Vianello. Here in Florida the areas that have the largest Italian population are Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where the consulate is.”

Connecticut is also a much smaller state geographically than Florida. Therefore, residents live in much closer proximities. This makes it easier for a large group to gather around a particular central area.

Is this lack of participation because Italian-Americans in Florida live in different communities and are more spread out?

“The community here in central Florida has about 2500-3000 Italians, said Vianello. Not everybody is registered with the consulate; probably many of them do not care; some of them for many different reasons do not want to be involved at all with other Italians. Club Culturale Italiano failed because it was the same few families who were the only ones participating.”

Though the Italian community in Connecticut seems more united than in Florida, it seems to be on the path to decline. With less participation from the younger generations the clubs and societies in place today may longer be able to survive.

Connecticut and Florida resident Tony Leone believes that participation from  the younger generations is necessary. “It is hard to determine how long that all these clubs can sustain themselves, said Leone. With most society members being older, the younger people must begin to participate or eventually there will not be anymore Italian cultural clubs.”

A.S. Maulucci discusses the lack of involvement from the younger generations and the changing culture in his article “On Writers and Writing:Authors recount authentic Italian-American experience.”

The need for the younger generation to participate is evident across the country. Once the younger generations begins to evolve from the guido culture to Italian culture the community should be revised.

Radio Italia

Quintino Cianfaglione has been broadcasting an Italian radio program in Connecticut for decades. He discusses how he started and the involvement of the younger generations.

Columbus Celebration

This year marked the 55th anniversary of the Hartford Columbus Day Parade. Many Italian-Americans gathered together over three days to celebrate through a banquet, carnival, and parade. Al Marotta, the chairman of the parade, discusses what the parade means to the community as a whole and to himself.

Generation Gap!

This video is of local Italian-Americans explaining their degree of involvement in the community. It shows the differences in three generations of Italian-Americans.

Family Influence

This video is from youtube.com by Kimberly Nicotera.

This video is significant to the community because it discusses what Italian-American life used to be and touches on the fact that this way of life has changed.

With the growth of technology and everyone getting busier, even the family has suffered.

The typical Italian-American family used to gather every Sunday to eat and relax together. Today, this still occurs although it seems to happen on fewer occasions.

Everyone still gathers on the holidays and birthdays. The food that was once bought fresh from the Italian market, the fish market, and the meat market are now bought like everyone else at the grocery store.

Though they may not see each other as often as they may like, the Italian family is still strong. It has just evolved around American culture.

“In short, what has happened is as simple as unadulterated assimilation (some self induced and some pushed by the larger American society) of the negative kind that leaves the current Italian American in a state of watered down culture and misrepresentation (in short, a sort of sudo Italian-American)”, according to Vincent Scordo of scordo.com.

The Italian- American family and culture was the subject of an exhibit at the Museum of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies. This exhibit is one of the ways the national community has tried to keep the culture and history of the community alive.

This video if from youtube.com and is by ptcomunicazioni.

This video is significant to the community because it touches on the fact that Italian immigrants helped shape and build the United States.

Elements of Italian culture are seen in American culture on a daily basis. From pizza to pasta and talking with your hands, these influences have slipped into daily culture.

Connecticut has one of the highest percentages of Italian-American households according to the 2000 U.S. census.

For those Italian-Americans who are trying to continue to connect with their roots, you can attend Columbus Day festivities this month. One such event is the Columbus Day parade in Hartford on Franklin Avenue.

Sense of Family and Community

This photo is from bleedingexpresso.com.

The Italian-American community in the United States is driven by a sense of family, your biological family and your adopted family (other Italians).  This sense of family and community is very strong. The older generations grew up solely around the community. This can be seen in the article “Growing Up Italian American” on the site ItaliaAmerica.org. The older generations did not think of themselves as American or Italian-American, they were Italians. They grew up in a time where the  culture was much like that in Italy. They lived in a solely Italian community, spoke Italian in the home, and bought their food from multiple markets.  They were immersed in the culture and they did not give it a second thought. The article “Italian-American Culture” on squidoo.com shows how the Italian Culture has influenced American life.

The younger generations have been raised in integrated neighborhoods. The values of the family and community seem to be becoming less of a priority through the generations. With families in the U.S. becoming busier by the moment, the ethnic community has been pushed to the background.

Hartford, Conn. was once a thriving center of Italian culture. Through the decades the community began to spread throughout the surrounding towns. Due to this spread into different communities many different societies and clubs were created. Instead of gathering around a few organizations, the community began to be pulled apart by regions, saints, and sport.

This abundance of societies has led to decreased attendance at events. The Americanization of the generations and the changing priorities of families have also led to this decline.

Many Italians are also angry with the way the younger generations are portraying themselves. TV shows such as “Jersey Shore” portray the younger generations as individuals whose sole concerns are tanning and partying.Teens today buy into the stereotypes of their culture rather than proving them wrong. Whether the community likes it or not the culture has begun to change.

The video below discusses life growing-up in an Italian-American community.

Purpose

The purpose of this blog is to attempt to strengthen the bond between the younger and older generations. Organizations such as NIAF help the community to stay connected through their local community and the national Italian population. The greater Hartford area has been the hub of Italian-American activities and gatherings in Connecticut for decades. There are many different societies and groups geared towards different aspects of the community. There are clubs that are directed towards different interests such as soccer or saints. Many societies have been dedicated to the different areas of Italy that members migrated from.

In recent years it seems as though these societies and clubs have been surviving on the participation of the older generations. The younger generations do not seem to be getting involved in these clubs. This blog will attempt to find out why.

Through observation, it seems that attendance at Italian events has declined. Many families used to attend these festa’s and other activities. These events featured Italian food, music, games and often a raffle.

Has the new guido obsession taken over what teens think of their culture?  Is an individual’s culture and history not as important to the teens and young adults of today?

The purpose of the blog is to attempt to bring the generations back together through the family and the community as a whole.