Tag: festa di santa lucia
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Silver Girl
In the days leading up to the Feast of Santa Lucia, December 13, many Sicilians refrain from eating pasta and only eat un-ground wheat grain, or “farro,” that is prepared as a dish called cuccìa. Devotees observe this ritual to remember the severe famine that struck Siracusa and Palermo in 1646. During that time of…
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Save the Date for Santa Lucia: December 13 in NYC
As our daylight time gets shorter here in the northern hemisphere, we think about the importance of light, and in Sicily, that equates to the patron saint of light, eyes, sight, and wheat, Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy. December 13 is her feast day, and before the Gregorian calendar was installed, under the Roman calendar,…
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She Answered Their Prayers
A severe famine struck Siracusa and its environs in 1646, the time of Spanish domination of Sicily. For relief, the citizens prayed to their patron saint, Santa Lucia, and in May that year during a mass, a quail flew into the Cathedral squawking at the faithful. At the same moment, a messenger entered the church…
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She was Immovable
It was the dawn of the 4th century, and practicing Christianity in the Roman-ruled city of Siracusa was illegal. Already though, inspired by nearby Catania’s Patron Saint, Sant’Agatha, young and beautiful Lucia devoted herself to Christianity. She planned to give her dowry to the poor, yet her widowed and sick mother had already arranged Lucia…
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When Without Wheat
Before I get to the serious significance of the December 13 Feast for Santa Lucia, let’s talk about the really serious stuff: that Palermitani celebrate the Saint by eating arancine. Arancine (as they are known in Palermo; Arancini, if you’re from the east side of Sicily), are rice balls filled with either a beef ragu…
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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…