Tag: divine feminine
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Ex-votos: Sacred Testimonials
At the sanctuary devoted to the Madonna della Milicia in Altavilla, pilgrims have offered ex-votos to the Virgin Mother. Ex-votos are iconographic body parts or other symbols that are given to the Madonna (That is, in this case. At other sacred sites, ex-votos would be offered to the divinity or saint celebrated there.) as gratitude…
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Madonna and Child
Madonna and Child set in the midst of the Baroque church San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo.
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Mother’s Grain
The Feast of Santa Lucia is celebrated on December 13, which until 1582 when the Gregorian calendar was instated, was the winter solstice. To celebrate the saint, who is the Christian translation of the Greek goddess Demeter, goddess of grain, agriculture, and fertility, Sicilians eat cuccìa, a pudding made of farro (barley), milk (in this…
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An Offering to the Goddess
This terracotta figure from Siracusa’s archaeological museum is one of hundreds of examples of statuettes found around the island of Ortigia that is attributed to the cult of Demeter and Kore (Persephone). I find this divine figure especially interesting because more recent images of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of Siracusa who is celebrated in…
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Our Lady
On September 15, the town of Terme Vigliatore in Messina province celebrates their patron saint Maria delle Grazie (Our Lady of Grace) with a solemn procession and feast. Maria, or Mary, has many different titles, but they all apply to the mother of Jesus. So, Maria delle Grazie or Mary of the Graces is another…
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Celebrating What Once Was and What Now Is
When immigrants from Tindari and Patti, Sicily came to New York at the turn of the 20th century, they brought with them the tradition of celebrating the Black Madonna or “Madonna Bruna.” Although East 13th Street has changed significantly in the last 50 years and Sicilians en masse no longer live in the East Village,…
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Tindari’s Sanctuary of the Black Madonna
September 8 is the feast day in honor of the Black Madonna of Tindari. The spectacular and colorful Sanctuary, “il Santuario della Madonna del Tindari,” pictured, was built in the 20th century to accommodate the flow of pilgrims coming to see the iconic statue of the “Madonna Bruna,” which sports an inscription, “Nigra Sum Sed…
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Summer and the Divine Feminine
The end of August and beginning of September in Sicily is a period that marks many feasts in honor of various feminine saints, celebrations that are linked to ancient rites that expressed gratefulness to the earth for the bounty of the harvest. The ancient Greeks, who started to settle in Sicily in the 8th century…