Winter Sunday in Lonato

This morning I thought of having a White Christmas as soon as I looked out of the window. The fog was white, thick, puffy and the little Christmas lights of the neighbor were making a part of the fog illuminated. It was sweet. I'm pretty sure that Christmas will be white here but with fog, not snow.

I think the hay barrels could be decorated as giant Christmas tree ornaments.

We went to mass in Lonato today to change things up. We like to go to mass in different places to see something new but with low visibility from the fog we didn't want to drive too far and Lonato is about 10 minutes away. Here, the little towns are very closed in and each town is different than the one right next to it. It is like different high schools: they are all high schools with school spirit, proud of themselves and have a mascot. Here the mascot for each town is a saint. Each day of the year is dedicated to a particular saint or a group of saints. Say today, it's December 4th and the day to remember Saint Barbara who is the saint and protector of people who face sudden and violent death in work, especially for the military and miners. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Aviation holds her as their patron saint and today there will be cocktail parties in her honor. She is also the saint for a town in France. The saint for Desenzano is Angela di Merici  (May 31st is her day) and just a few minutes away in Montichiari, they have San Pancrazio (May 12th). It is just to give an idea of what the towns are like. The day of a saint of the city means a few things: mass, a street processional with music and the mayor, a feast and a day off work for most people. Similar things happen for other Catholic holidays like Easter, Christmas Eve, the 8th of December to celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Baptist is another big one too.

I know I am deviating from my "Winter Sunday" topic but I just remembered my first Catholic processional in Italy and want to share my Easter experience, I didn't have a blog yet so my blog deserves it. We went to Abruzzo, a region in the middle part of Italy facing the Adriatic Sea. I had never celebrated Easter in Italy and wanted to see what is typical. Apparently on Good Friday, the day Jesus died (3 days before Easter), a lot of little towns in Italy show the mourning of the Virgin Mary, his mother, by conducting a processional that resembles a funeral. This is called the Via Crucis (The Road of the Cross) and the tradition became more popular around the 13th century with Fransciscan monks who are the "Custodians of Holy Places". I was totally creeped out and intrigued by it at the same time. The main cobblestone street, the path for the Via Crucis, was lined with candles from one end of the town to the other marking the path for the processional, large flags were hung from the old buildings, and a brass band was tuning its instruments. A statue of Mary was in one church, dressed in black with a black veil. She was standing on a rack with 4 posts on each end to get carried down the street. There were 2 statues of Christ: one as he suffered on the cross then a bloody statue laying in a glass coffin to be carried, this was the statue of Christ after his death. The little chapel where they were waiting was dark and cold, probably built in the 15th century with faded murals on the walls. I would have loved to get a team of curators in there. We left and found a good spot on the main road to stand like for a parade. The entire town came out for the processional.

As the sun started to set the processional started first with Francsican monks and nuns, then with priests. Then I wanted to run suddenly back to the car and drive down the hill on the little road as fast as I could,  pretending that I never saw what I saw: men dressed in white robes with white pointed hoods and little circles for their eyes to see carrying the body of Christ. "Dear lord, the KKK made it to small town Italy" was my first thought and I was instinctual afraid. "Duck and roll, duck and roll!" went racing through  my mind as I looked to my fiance for an explanation and security. No, white hooded men in Italy are part of the procession and they signify repentance and they have been doing this for centuries and in many countries. They are called "Nazarenos" and this part of the processional is a form of reminding sinners that their sins will be forgiven and they will be pure again. In many towns in Italy and Spain they do this, some use other colors like purple for their cloaks and hoods, but Città Sant' Angelo used white to signify the purity that God gives us when he died for us to forgive us of our sins. Our forgiven sins will be as "white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18) Here is a video of them in Spain dressed in purple.

And one in white,

(Now that I have read some research on it, it seems that the Klan took this holy tradition and turned it into something evil. History Professor, Elaine Parsons, at Duquesne University has done extensive research on the history of the Klan. Here is an article by her:  Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction–Era Ku Klux Klan.)

As my fiance explained this to me I nodded but still shrank back when the Klan lookalikes walked past. If I had seen this in the US I would have cried from the impact for sure. It is funny what things mean in other countries. In the USA white pointy hoods means run and here it means that Jesus loves you. It took longer than drinking my hot chocolate that day for me to mull this over. I would share some pictures but my computer crashed with a virus shortly after Easter and I lost all my downloaded pictures. That reminds me that I need to backup some of my pictures on my external hardrive.


On that note, I would like to end with something nice. I love the smell of pine that is here with the fog. It is sort of like the humidity permeates the pine trees and the smell is fresh and crisp. It really reminds me of Washington State in the winter. Only the western hemlock trees there were really tall and during storms would fall and cut out electricity for a couple of days. Here the cypress trees are shorter and less threatening. 

Crisp pine scent :)

If only my neighborhood cows could smell as nice...

Also, with winter in full swing, Fatty is resembling an owl more and more each day. Some days he looks like an owl and others he sits like a chicken hatching eggs. I love his fluff. If only he were useful for something other than looking incredibly cute. I take that back, he is useful for making the couch warm on cold days. A hot fat cat is better than a radiator when your feet are cold.

Gufo Reale: Owl from this region of Italy

Felis catus: the domestic fat cat

Mission of the day: make eggs for the farmer

Mission of the day: get food from the lady and look pitifully at the man if that doesn't work. Sad kitty eyes always work with him.