Category: Observations about Culture
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Beware And Be Kind To The Mandrake Plant
Beware! Attenti! Mandrake (pictured), or Mandragora, is a perennial plant that grows in the Mediterranean. You’ll find them throughout Sicily in the fall and spring. They have long roots with a very short stem. When pulled from the earth, the plant and roots together resemble the human body–both men and women. The mandrake has medicinal…
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Ameri-Sicula Book Reading and Discussion: Thursday, November 19
Join Us Online this Thursday for a heartwarming evening that will connect you to Sicily and the world of Ameri-Sicula! Experience Sicily presents Ameri-Sicula: Sicilian Culture in America, A Book Reading and Discussion. When: Thur., Nov. 19, 7:30 to 8:45PM Zoom. Complimentary. Edited by Mark Hehl, Ameri-Sicula: Sicilian Culture in America is a new book…
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#iorestoincam, A Photography Project In the Time Of COVID-19
These last few months have been a lesson in acceptance of what is. I’m blessed to have stayed healthy, if even while fighting great sadness from having my travel business come to a complete stop, watching my hometown of New York City struggle, and my second home, Sicily, be off limits to me. Nevertheless, I…
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Sacred Sicily And Lago Di Pergusa
We’re halfway through autumn in the northern hemisphere. Persephone has made her way to the underworld to join her husband Pluto (AKA Hades) to continue her work as Queen of the Underworld. Meanwhile, Demeter, Persephone’s mother, is turning inward and the earth slowly begins its winter cycle. Pictured is Lago di Pergusa, or Pergusa Lake,…
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Long Live Saint Joseph
Viva San Giuseppe! (From LA Chiesa di San Pietro, Modica, Sicily)
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Blue Skies At Sicily’s White Cliffs
Blue skies, nothing but blue skies…at la Scala dei Turchi. La Scala dei Turchi, or Stairs of the Turks, are made of a hard-mud material that is a combination of calcium carbonate and lime mixed with other types of clay and silt, called marl or marlstone. A popular swimming spot, La Scala dei Turchi, in…
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Acknowledging The Ancestors On The Day Of The Dead
Halloween, All Saints Day, and November 2–All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead (Giorno dei Morti, or in Sicilian, Un juornu re muorti)–mark the end of the agricultural year and recognize the delicate boundary between the living and the dead. In pre-Christian times, a similar set of Roman-era feast days called Lamuria were…
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The Saints As Guides For Life’s Cycles
The veil between the living and the dead is thin during these days of mid-autumn. In past centuries, November 1 was better known as All Hallows or Hallowmas (Hence yesterday being All Hallows Eve or Halloween, in northern Christian countries.). Now called All Saints Day, today is a solemn feast to acknowledge all saints, known…
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Dreaming Of When We Can Hit The Road
Red Fiat Cinquecento in Porticello (Palermo) Dreaming of when we can once again hit the road… #seeyousoonsicily