BUON FERRAGOSTO!
August 15 is a Big Beautiful Holiday in Italy, that will be celebrated a bit more low-key this year. The tradition goes way back to the days of the Roman Empire, when it was the Festival Holidays of the Emperor Augustus. The Goddess Diana was at the center of the revels, symbolizing the cycle of fertility, and all were grateful for the summerdays of sunshine and ripening…Here’s Diana in a Villa D’Este fountain. What looks like breasts actually represent bull’s testicles, as bulls were sacrificed at the Temple of Mother Goddess Diana in Ancient Times.
Along came Catholocism, and the holiday switched to center around the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, a triumphant event honoring the Mother of God, that inspired masterpieces…
Titian’s in the Frari in Venice is my favorite, with Mary dancing skyward…
I also love Correggio’s in the ceiling of Parma’s cathedral...
Perugino’s…
As Mary is Star of the Sea, Ferragosto celebrations at Italy’s beaches are traditionally spectacular. Such as in Positano, a village on the Amalfi Coast, where festivities in non-Covid19 years begin on August 14, and the statue from the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta is paraded along the winding stairways…
The grand finale on the night of August 15 is a fabulous fireworks display…
My Jersey shore memories of August 15: This was the day when my mother would say, “All the waters are blessed!” So we’d be sure to take a swim in the ocean, bring bottles with us to the beach, fill them up with the blessed water, and carry them back to my Nana and Aunts, who would take their breaks from making eggplant parmesan and pour that water on their swelled up feet…
Wherever you are, I wish you Happy Celebrations of this Abundant, Ripe Summertime — Buon Ferragosto!
Speaking as someone who used to visit Ocean City in the summer, you seem a long way from the Jersey shore now. 🙂 Ken
Hey Paesan! I am far away…with fond memories of The Shore…
Love your memory of eggplant and the feet of the important women in your life all at the Jersey Shore. I remember my own Nana’s feet vividly, in stockings and white, open-toed house slippers facing the stove frying eggplant and then again in our recliner, swollen feet put up for an afternoon rest — shades drawn in the livingroom, both of us cooled by a slowly oscillating fan. I must have been only six years old or so. I’ll be at the Jersey Shore tomorrow and plan on enjoying the blessed water. BTW – just saw your piece on Francine Segan in this month’s issue of Tastes of Italia magazine. Well done! Buon Ferragosto!
Thanks for reading and sharing that great memory! And give my best to The Shore!
beautiful photos & memories, grazie, bella susanna!
Great post & pics, thanks!
I hope you had a wonderful Ferragosto shared with friends and family!
Thank you for stopping by 🙂
I had a lovely day thanks! Hope you did too! :o)