The Italian way: “Halloween” traditions!
Even if Halloween is not a traditional Italian celebration in the last few years, thanks to the influnce of the Americam movies it’s becoming usual to celebrate the occasion in an American Style. Parties, costumes and pumpkins can be easily found in all the clubs, pubs and in every city.
Moreover in the same period in Italy it takes place the Christian Celebration of the All Souls’ Day.
In Western Christianity, All Souls’ Day commemorates the faithful departed. This day is principally observed in the Catholic Church, although some churches of the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it.
A lot of traditions linked to this festivity takes place in different regions of Italy and it looks like they are influenced from the celtic orignated Halloween celebration.
In the days between 31st October and 11th November, St. Martin’s Day, in many Italian regions children or poor people would pass from house to house asking for food and gifts; sometimes they were masked as ghosts or spirits. In some Sicilian villages, on the night between 1st and 2nd November the Dead would bring presents to children. In the Veneto and Lombardia regions people would carve pumpkins into a skull’s face and put candles inside. These carved heads were then positioned on graves, bushes, walls and windowsills, in order to frighten the spirits.
In Southern Italy families prepare a special feast for the souls of the departed on All Souls’ Day. The families would set the table with a bountiful meal. Then they would all go to church to pray for the souls of the deceased. They stayed there all day, leaving their home open so that the spirits could enter and enjoy the feast.
When the family came home to find that their offerings hadn’t been consumed it meant that the spirits disapproved of their home and would work evil against them during the coming year
You can find the same tradition with small variations in other regions: for example in Valle D’Aosta they used to prepapre big fires in the night between the 1st and 2nd of November and prepare food for the dead and leave them close to the fire; In Piemonte people prepared food for an additional person and an extra seat was added to the table during dinner for the soul of a friend that is going to visit during the same night.
Every tradition in Italy involves food! the All Souls’ Day includes typical dishes prepared during this time and handed down from generation to generation. In Romagna, a region well known for its cooking, the “piada dei morti”, a very tasty round flatbread filled with nuts, almonds, raisins and the red wine of Romagna, the Sangiovese, is prepared. Another sweet prepared during this time in Romagna is the “fava dei morti”, a little biscuit made of almonds.
In Sicily the typical dishes for this time of year is the “pupi ‘i zuccuru”, a sweet bread shaped like little dolls, and the “dead bones”, biscuits having the shape of bones that are particularly hard to bite. Very peculiar is the “frutta marturana”, which is marzipan shaped into real fruits with an inviting scent.
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