Sicilians have a profound appreciation for the delicate boundary between the living and the dead. November 1 is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day, better known as the Day of the Dead (Il Giorno dei Morti in Italian or in Sicilian, Un juornu re muorti). All Saints Day celebrates saints known and unknown. Meanwhile, the Day of the Dead is spent recognizing one’s relatives who have passed on. The living hold picnics at grave sites and practice rituals that summon their ancestors. To avoid scaring the children too much from the conjuring of the spirits, there is a tradition of the youngsters waking up to find “un cannistru,” a basket full of typical sweets that have been left by the “visiting dead relatives.”
Traditionally, that meant dried fruit, candies, nuts, chocolate, frutta Martorana (pictured, marzipan sculpted to look like fruit), and sugar dolls, called pupaccene (more on that to come). Also pictured are Ossa dei Morti, or Bones of the Dead, a sugar-formed (very hard) candy-pastry meant to look like bones. Don’t bite too hard, your dentist bill will scare you more than conjuring your ancestors!
