Buona Pasqua!
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2010
1
13
40
Trip End
Jul 15, 2010
Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
No Italian Easter would be complete without the traditional bread, called "Colomba Pasquale" (loosely translated, Easter Dove). The dove is, of course, a symbol of peace. One clarification: Colomba bread is not to be confused with Saint Columba, an Irish Benedictine monk, who lived in the 6th century and, perhaps, liked to eat bread. He is not even the patron saint of bakers. That would be Saint Nicholas, who was not Irish (nor even Italian), but who is closely associated with Christmas (Good ol’ St. Nick), another holy season that has its own traditional Italian bread, panettone. And that brings us back to colomba, which is much like panettone (Bet you were wondering where this was going). Colomba bread is, strangely enough, baked in the shape of a dove in flight (Remember the “peace” theme; I’ll get back to it.). For weeks before Easter, stores were full of them. Colomba is essentially like its “cugino nella cucina” (kitchen cousin), panettone, often baked with nuts, candied fruits and raisins, and sometimes chocolate. While dining at the home of one of Lesly’s colleagues, our host explained that colomba is just leftover Christmas panettone that has been “remodeled” into another loaf. That, he reasoned, was why colomba was so dry; it was baked twice! In any case, with our curiosity piqued we decided to buy one. Because we are on a budget, we waited to buy our colomba after Easter when they were “in offerta” (on sale). We bought a chocolate one – it was excellent (not dry at all)!
Our hosts also told us about the blessing of Easter eggs in the church. Eggs that were to be eaten during Easter are brought to church during a special Mass, where they are blessed by the priest. The hard boiled eggs, however, must be peeled because some folks believe that the “blessing” will not pass through the shell of the egg. Of course, you can imagine the fragrance inside the church during the Mass!
And speaking of Easter eggs... Another tradition in Italy is the gifting of large chocolate Easter eggs. The eggs are huge – about 12 inches tall – and wrapped in beautiful bright paper. They are sold in every alimentari, pasticceria, and supermercato. We saw people walking along the street carrying these large packages to give to friends and family. The eggs are available in various types of chocolate (milk, white, dark) and are usually hollow, often containing a “surprise” inside. Of course, we bought one of these as well – waiting until the post-Easter sales when they were a quarter of the regular price (remember the budget...).
As many of you know, the Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. The palms symbolize the glorious entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The crowds spread palm branches before Him as He rode into the city on a donkey. In the US and Canada palm branches are blessed by the priest and can be taken home by parishioners to display in their homes in remembrance of Christ’s passion, suffering, crucifixion and resurrection. We attended the Palm Sunday Mass at our local church. To our surprise, instead of palm branches, the priest blessed olive branches – another symbol of peace (just like the dove). The blessed branches were placed in 3-4 buckets of water at the foot of the altar. Before Mass began, the priest asked those who wanted a branch to come up and take some; Lesly sent me up to get a couple for ourselves. That’s when things got really scary. There was a chaotic dash to the altar – little old ladies were pushing and shoving to root through the buckets to find the nicest olive branches. So much for peace! Those women are tough - I barely got out of that melee with both eyes intact! Throughout the Mass people got up and poked around in the buckets to select the best looking branches. One woman even picked through the buckets during the distribution of communion, and missed taking the Blessed Sacrament altogether. Anyway, I think I managed to get the best branches...
Our dinner hosts also told us of a well-known rhyming Italian proverb that goes something like this: “Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi.” It loosely translates as "Christmas with your relatives, Easter with whomever you want". Of course, we don’t subscribe to this philosophy and we wished that all of our relatives and friends could have shared this experience with us here this year.
“La pace sia con te!”.
Comments
Earl has finally got to see all your interesting postings. He sure likes the Italian traditions of the bread that is chocolate and the large chocolate eggs. He may even move to Italy for that . Ha Ha. Our email has been on and off for the last three weeks so that is way he is just viewing them.