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Buona Pasqua! Celebrating Italian Easter Traditions Fun Activities for
the Home or Classroom In Italy, Pasqua
(Easter) is a very sacred season that is celebrated with many special customs
and traditions. Easter Sunday is
an important religious holiday and an important family celebration in Italy
and America. Italian customs and
traditions add so much to the beautiful celebration of Easter in America for
families of Italian heritage and help teach the younger family members about
the value of their Italian heritage. Easter Sunday,
the holiest day of the year, is a Christian festival that is celebrated
around the world. Easter recalls
the story of the resurrection of Jesus.
Christians believe Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday and rose
from the dead on Easter Sunday bringing salvation to man. The family
celebration of Easter Sunday includes mass with everyone dressed in their
best dresses, bonnets, suits and ties, a visit to the cemetery and a
traditional day-long banquet. Lent and the Easter
season is preceded by carnevale. This traditional pre-Lenten celebration in Italy, is a time of
merry-making, masquerade processions, masked balls, parades, pageants,
elegant costumes and opulent masks, singing and dancing, fireworks, and
outdoor feasts in the weeks prior to Ash Wednesday and culminating on Martedí
Grasso or Shrove Tuesday.
(for more information see
“Carnevale: The
Italian Pre-Lenten Festival” Fun
Activities for the Home or Classroom at http://www.qc.edu/calandra/community
) Ash Wednesday:
A day of fasting and abstinence, Ash
Wednesday marks the first day of Lent with church services and the
distribution of ashes through the distinctive marking in the shape of a cross
on the forehead, or sprinkled on the heads of worshippers. Lent:
Lent is a period of forty days marked by prayer, sacrifice,
abstinence, fasting, and penance that is symbolic of the ministry of Jesus
Christ. Holy Week
Traditions: Commemorating the last week of the
life of Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday commemorates the journey of Jesus to
Jerusalem where the people greeted him by waving palm leaves. Worshippers receive palms at Mass and
many weave the palms into crosses to wear or to bring to the cemetery. Many families visit the cemetery with
these palm crosses or may purchase a fancy decorative palm cross and may also
plant spring flowers at the cemetery. Maundy
Thursday commemorates the
Last Supper where Jesus transformed his body and blood into the Eucharist. Jesus also cleansed the feet of his
disciples, a ceremony that is recreated in many church services. Many people follow a tradition of
visiting three churches. Good Friday is the day on which Jesus was crucified
on the cross. Many towns and
villages commemorate Good Friday with a procession of the ‘Passion of Christ’
in which people carry crosses or recreate the ‘Stations of the Cross’ or
carrying of the cross by Jesus. Holy Saturday is a day of mourning, prayer and
preparation for the resurrection of Christ. Easter Sunday brings rejoice and salvation with the
resurrection of Jesus Christ as Christians celebrate the foundation of their
faith. The celebration begins
with a glorious Easter Sunday Mass and, for many families, a visit to the
cemetery. Some Regional
Traditions: Florence:
The spectacular enactment of the ‘scoppio del carro’ or
‘explosion of the cart’ occurs where an elaborate cart is led by white oxen
to Easter Mass and a dove-shaped rocket on a wire sets off fireworks. Rome:
In Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Pope re-enacts the Last Supper of Jesus
Christ on Maundy Thursday. Rome:
The Pope leads a procession to portray the “Passion of Christ” on Good
Friday that starts from il colosseo. Easter Feast:
Following the forty days of abstinence during Lent, the Easter feast
traditionally features lamb and typically consists of antipasto, minestra
di pasqua, agnellino, abbacchio, manicotti, lasagne, pasta, carciofi fritti,
carciofi e patate soffritti,
verdure, frutte, dolci, vino and much, much more. Traditional
Italian dolci of Easter typically includes pizza rustica, la
colomba di pasqua (a dove-shaped sweet bread), pizza ricresciuta, pupa
cu l’ova, torta di ricotta, pastiera di grano, taralli, cassatelli,
ciciarota, biscotti di pignoli and Easter sweet bread with hard-boiled,
pastel colored eggs baked in the center. A special Italian
Easter treat for children is the uovo di pasqua – a
large decorative chocolate egg that comes with a gift or surprise
inside. They are beautifully
wrapped in elaborate, colorful, decorative paper. (Some are extravagant hand-decorated masterpieces
featuring flowers made of sugar paste that have been known to surprise the
recipient with keys to a Ferrari or an engagement ring.) Another special
Italian treat of Easter is a lamb made out of marzipan, beautifully decorated
and completely edible. Pasquetta:
Easter Monday is traditionally celebrated with family picnics in the
country. Crafts and
Activity Ideas: Fun activities include craft
workshops to decorate Easter eggs, to create Easter bonnets, Easter baskets
or ‘Buona Pasqua!’ greeting cards, and can also include an Easter egg
hunt or Easter parade, among other things. (see website referenced below) Coloring and
Activity Booklet: To learn some Italian words,
phrases and customs associated with the celebration of Italian traditions of Pasqua
utilizing a picture dictionary, coloring activities, illustrated story,
color-by-number, ‘Buona Pasqua’ greeting cards, and more click here “Buona
Pasqua!” to download and print.
(1.25m pdf) Traditional
Foods and Recipes of Pasqua: Like every other holiday in Italy,
there are traditional foods and dolci distinctively associated with Pasqua. The following cookbooks contain some
of these recipes as well as recipes of other traditional Italian holiday
foods. These cookbooks are also
a valuable resource for background information about the origin of the foods
and a history of the relevant festa.
Some of the
Italian customs and traditions of Easter are outlined here and much more
information is available in the sources listed below: Websites: http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa031401a.htm Buona
Pasqua! Easter in Italy (Traditional Ceremonies) http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa031401b.htm Buona
Pasqua! Easter in Italy (Italian Easter Recipes and
Vocabulary) http://familycrafts.about.com/library/weekly/aa030199.htm Easter
Treats (Craft Ideas) http://ciaoitalia.com/recipe6apr2000.html La
Colomba di Pasqua: A Story of
the Easter Dove Booklet: Italian
Easter Holiday Customs and Traditions by the
Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, Order Sons of Italy in America - www.GaribaldiMeucciMuseum.org (718) 442-1608 Buona Pasqua ! [Return to the Community Affairs page.] |
