Remembering Traditions...and the Dead.

During the colder months of less and less sunshine, it seem that winter pulls us downward.  The earth dies back aand the seeds hide underground, while they must wait for spring and rebirth.  Some say this is a time when the dead feel an attraction to the living and hope to return for a visit, as they are said to do in Orsara di Puglia.  Families set the table for ancestors returning from their graves.  

Long before a calendar told us when the new year would begin, many would celebrate this time as the new year.  This is the end of the harvest when people would gather and prepare for the long winter. "The wheat has been sown and the fruit all crated."  It wasn't until the 9th century that the Church in Italy drew a veil of religion over the festival, and renamed it Ognissanti, All Saints Day.  The festival of death as birth into the church and eternity, commemorates the death of saints and souls by celebrating traditions in Italy on November 1st and 2nd.   These nights provided the opportunity to honor, reconnect and pay respect to the spirits of loved ones. 

 

It is said that the night is a magical, spiritual experience for everyone to experience.  The Orsaresi who live in other parts of Italy and Europe come home for the festa, and visitors come from all over Puglia.  Since it is a holiday, many families are able to take an extra long weekend known as il Ponte dei Morti.

Many believe that the night between November 1 and 2, the souls of the recently departed return among the living to visit their relatives and their former homes before moving onto Paradise.  The  entire city of Orsara is lit with Bonfires of wood and branches of (ginestra) or broom.  The light of the fires, the crackling and sparks from the brooms reach out for the sky attracting the spirits so they may reunite with the living. 

 

The pumpkin lanterns are carved to look like heads or carved with crosses to light their way so the spirits can find their former home.   The preparation involves gathering of firewood, preparing food for family and friends and picking hundreds of locally grown pumpkin or zucca which are carved and placed all over Orsara. This is the busiest night of the year for restaurants and bars.  The town hosts a pumpkin carving workshop and there is even a contest for the best decorated pumpkin.

Now when the campanile, the church bell tower, strikes 1900 hours, Orsara di Puglia  "catches fire."  Bonfires are simultaneously lit in every street and piazza. where they remain lit through the night.  The fires, illuminated pumpkins, music and people in the streets create a magical enchanted atmosphere.  There are three large squares in the city and every quarter neighborhood, and many families also light their own.

Now the food in honor of the dead, is simple but symbolic, seasonal foods.  They are cooked on the open fires and also served as we would call street food.  Potatoes, onions and sausages, roasted chestnuts and pane cotto-bread cooked with garlic, potatoes and greens are some of the favorites.

The one I remember my grandmother Maria Antoinette Dedda-Fragassi always making was Muscitaglia a traditional dish she served on November 1st.  This dates back to the ancient Greeks and Byzantines.    The ingredients are symbolic of fertility and abundance, but also of honor and respect for the dead. Muscitaglia is made up of the Greek and Latin words mosto (wine must) and talia (grain).

While in Orsara, a few weeks ago, we were serve Muscitaglia for dessert and it reminded me of Grandma the only difference is that she made hers for breakfast and ate it with milk and honey.  So that brings me to  MOSTO COTTO- A thick, molasses like syrup made by boiling down fresh grape must.  Mosto cotto is served as a kind of poor man's honey.  Now when my grandma was here in American she couldn't find mosto cotto, so that explains the honey and the milk.  Or maybe she felt America was the land of milk and honey for her.