CARNIVALE TO EASTER SUNDAY by Katherine Pulzone

If you ever had a moment of doubting how important the Italians have been to the world, think about the calendar. Did you know…..

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all the holidays. January 1st was not always the day it was celebrated. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago by both the Babylonians and the Romans. It began with the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring) with the celebration lasting 11 days. Eventually the calendar became out of synchronization with the sun and in order to set the calendar right the Roman Senate in 153 BC declared January 1st to be the beginning of the New Year. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar and had to let the previous year drag on for 455 days in order to synchronize it with the sun and have January 1st begin the New Year. In AD 567, the Council of Tours abolished January 1st and went back to the Vernal Equinox in March as the start of the New Year. Finally in 1582 with the advent of the Gregorian calendar, Pope Gregory XIII moved the first day of the New Year back to January 1st.

What is more amazing is traveling through Italy; you still see calendars that were built into the sides of churches, in the form of sundials, on cathedrals and other ancient buildings that not only tell what day it is, but also the time of day. They still work! The artistry in the mason work is just amazing. It was made for all people to look at every day and what’s more, made to last. They are typically about five feet in diameter (maybe they’re bigger because they are so high up on the wall) and of course in Roman numerals. Another reason why Roman numeral system should still be taught in schools – if the electricity ever went out, people could still tell the time and day. I noticed everyone looking up at the walls and many checking their watches, as if it was something of an everyday ritual. Of course in Italy, the bells of the churches or cathedrals always tell you the time of day. You could tell by the bells if a wonderful event is taking place, an emergency or a sad occasion, like death.

Here in Louisville, for instance, where I live on the East End, you get a siren at noon on the 1^st Tuesday of each month. It blasts for a minute just to make sure it’s working. Other than that, you better hope the electricity is working if there is ever a disaster so you can watch television or the powers running cyberspace haven’t been shut down, or the phone system and air space is up to snuff.

Back to Italian traditions from the start of the New Year.

Let’s not forget St. Joseph’s Day which is a huge celebration in Italy and to Italian-Americans. St. Joseph’s Day is celebrated with fruit, breads and pastry. March 19th is a very special day for Italians because it marks the Feast of St. Joseph. In addition to the feast it is also considered to be Father's Day in Italy. Joseph was the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, adoptive father of Jesus Christ, the patron saint of carpenters, laborers, and father of families. However, because it is still Lent, fish is the primary main course.

Italians are extremely religious people which involves praying to various saints to help them in their time of need. It was a prayer to St. Joseph that was answered that made March 19 a special day to Italians. In the middle ages there was a drought in Sicily. The people of Sicily turned to St. Joseph and asked him to stop the drought. If he would do so the people of Sicily would have a giant feast in honor of him saving them from the drought. St. Joseph answered their prayers and the people of Sicily kept their word. They prepared a giant feast in which everyone was invited including the poor. It is this kindness that continues today.

In my experience living in New York and New Jersey, and many other cities with an Italian community, St. Joseph’s Day is celebrated by visiting family and close friends and bringing specific pastry in a white box with a red/green/white striped string. The bakeries produce the most beautiful and fragrant desserts that actually lure you into the creaky old screen door, take a number and gaze into the endless glass display cases. You found yourself like a kid in a candy store as if it were your first time. The Rum Baba, Sfogliatelle, Napoleons, Zaqbaglione, Cannoli, Éclairs (yes even some French pastries are very close to the Italian pastries), beautiful crusty breads, some wheat, some semolina and of course the airy crusty loafs with sesame seeds.

Then there are the Italian cookies with anisette, pignoli nuts and candied fruit or chocolate. The favorites are the Venetian Rainbow Cookies made with almond paste, raspberry preserves and dark chocolate frosting. St. Joseph “Sfingi” a special zeppole with homemade custards had to go in the white box.

We’d meet my grandparents in Westchester, New York, drive to neighborhood stores and stop in the fruit store for white and purple grapes, oranges, pears, pomegranates and persimmons, anything that was fresh, enough to feed at least twenty people. We gathered a few pounds of nuts in their shells and walked next door to the cheese store. They made the ricotta cheese every day - my grandmother would reject anything more than a day old. Fresh mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, ricotta forte, pecorino romano, gorgonzola, provolone still in the roped wax and too many to list here, various olives and roasted red peppers with olive oil and black olives; and then on to the bread store next door. All the stores were next to each other and it was an Italian’s paradise. The butcher store would have to wait a few weeks. The fish monger made out like a bandit during lent. Fresh clams from Long Island and all the catch from the Atlantic came in every day.

We would then drive to Hoboken, New Jersey where the other relatives and friends who came over on the same boats, lived within several blocks and met at my Uncle Sammy’s three family house where some more of the cousins lived. Then the relatives on from the other streets would walk to Uncle Sammy’s bringing more wine (many wines bottles were from their own grape vines, including my grandfather’s and father’s) and pastry and fresh caught lobster and squid etc., and the feast would begin. Squid was a hi-light, made into a savory salad eaten with the best Italian bread. Octopus made with extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and parsley and fresh squeezed lemon is amazing.

Right above is a photo of octopus salad. You could hear opera and Italian music streaming out of the windows onto the streets. Everyone gathered on the sidewalks to say hello to everyone visiting. For the most part, Hokoken was mostly Italian-Americans and the scattered Irish and other nationalities that were quickly a part of this tight community. They came over on boats during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there weren’t any jobs in Italy (mostly in the South) and families were just about starving. Now they were buying pastry and wine and watching their kids run up and down the street and happy to be able to yell at them “the water’s on – you have nine minutes to get in the house.” Every family had at least one male named Joseph so the day was celebrated without too much guilt over all the splendid pastries sitting on the dining table. (the kids sat at the card tables but even they had fresh tablecloths.) One of the memorable things about these Italian communities were those Italians who came over by themselves leaving everyone behind. My grandfather, father and uncles would invite them over to share holiday desert, especially if they were alone. If they weren’t well enough to leave the house, or too shy, they would send us (the kids) with pastry and fruit to cheer them up.

Clams with marinara over spaghetti or linguine was Hoboken’s own son, Frank Sinatra’s favorite dish and all Italian-Americans in the NE because of the oceans nearby guaranteeing they were fresh out of the water:

This is a great photo of Le Vastedde. This is a Sicilian tradition, which consists of latticework covered with branches of myrtle and bay leaves as well as oranges, lemons and small decorative breads.

Celebrating in Italy:

In Italy, The Epiphany 12^th day celebration in Ivrea, near Turin, holds their annual festival which started in medieval times. Starting the celebration on January 6^th, it reaches fever pitch on March 6^th with the famous Battle of the Oranges. Three thousand people divide into teams of 100 riding into the town center on carts carrying oranges to pelt other teams.

But first, the parade kicks off the festivities that are led by the a band of pipers and drummers who parade the streets of Ivrea early in the morning dressed in red jackets, green trousers with a red stripe, and Phrygian bonnets. Their reveille is the signal that another carnival time is about to begin. Pipers and drummers are an ever-present feature of the forthcoming celebrations. There are special tunes to be played in each district and marches for the main characters among the dramatis personae. As the band goes round the town, it naturally gathers a crowd behind it.

The end is the Town Hall in Piazza di Città, where the General from last year's carnival hands over his sword and cocked hat to the next incumbent. All over Italy, including the well-known Venice Carnivale, food is the key factor coinciding with church requirements. Meat is eaten only after Lent ends on Easter Sunday.

Of course this tradition of parades, celebration, gatherings in the town piazza are customs still practiced today throughout Italy. Every town and city has a piazza for everyone to gather and celebrate, each with their own colors and flags, food and music. The revival begins on Palm Sunday, when Italians, attend Mass. There, they receive a blessing from the priest. They then weave their palm fronds to create crosses and other works of art that they exchange with friends and family for good luck. The more religious Italians go to church every day between Palm Sunday and Easter. On Venerdi Santo or Good Friday, many cities have parades to remember Christ carrying the cross to his crucifixion. On Easter Eve at midnight, everyone in town turns out for one of the longest Masses of the year to wait for the coming of the Lord.

Churches are usually packed on Easter morning. The altars are overflowing with white flowers - donne in camicie or calla lilies, carnations, chamomile. After the lengthy Mass of the night before, this one is usually short and sweet. "Messa corta, tavola lunga," or "Short Mass, Long Table," so goes the Italian motto for Easter. The idea is that after worshipping for an entire week, your reward is a fantastic celebration with food and friends at the table. A big dish is the Pizza Rustica.

In the U.S. cities with large Italian-American populations, piazzas weren’t always built for crowds to gather, so the church grounds were a good venue. For the U.S. cities with no piazzas but large numbers of Italian-Americans, we use the church grounds or close off the streets for celebrations and parades. No problem when most of the business owners were Italian and enough community leaders are Italian. In the NorthEast for example, the non-Italians living in the communities welcomes the saint day celebrations, being Catholic themselves for the most part, and would join in the celebrations. It is good for the community and businesses alike to participate.

Pizza Rustica – (sometimes called Pizza Gain or Easter Pie: this is pie in the sense that a crust is used and criss-cross dough on top of eggs, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, salami, prosciutto, soppressata, fresh flat leaf parsley, pepperoni, and only pecorino romano grated cheese. All the ingredients are cut into chunks and slices and mixed with the beaten eggs, pecorino romano cheese, salt and pepper and poured into the pastry shell. The extra dough is cut into long strips and criss-crossed across the top. This was to tie in Easter with the cross. When it baked and

cooled, big squares were cut and served. Everyone loved this because it was picked on for a few days, warm or cold. It was one of my dad’s

favorite and sometimes, we put sliced hardboiled eggs in addition to everything else in the pie. The picture above is not quite the 4 inch height of my family’s, but the ingredients are the same. It all depends on the number of guests you’re having for dinner.

Tables all over Italy - overflow with painted and dyed hard boiled eggs, antipasto that includes dry sausage and fresh cheese, pasta, and of course

For Neapolitans, the wheat is key in baking because it symbolizes resurrection, the very essence of Easter. My family would soak the wheat grain and prepare for days in order to have everything ready for Easter Sunday. Here in the U.S., hundreds of people actually import the fresh ricotta straight from Italy in order to make the Easter Pie (Pastiera) the traditional way and its popularity has increased at an amazing rate in the United States because once you taste it, you want it every Easter. Unlike America’s version of cheesecake using cream-cheese, the ricotta and eggs have to match in consistency which is the key to the perfect Pastiera. Making this pie is an art and takes a lot practice and getting to know the feel of the mixture. I have found many of the U.S. Italian-Americans importing the ricotta from Italy are from areas where there aren’t any cheese stores. Stores that have hundreds of cheeses as their main product.

Getting through Lent is a challenge without eating meat. A really good recipe for a nice weekend lunch is Frittata. A favorite is Frittata with potatoes that are diced and browned in a little olive oil with a little minced onion, salt and pepper, scramble the eggs seasoned with salt and pepper and pour over the potatoes. Put the lid on the pan and let cook until the edges are golden brown and the middle is set. This takes mere minutes. Take the lid off, put a large plate over the pan and turn it upside down. You can use left-over or fresh cooked spaghetti in place of the potatoes with pieces of mozzarella that makes this dish a favorite of the kids as well as the adults.

In Amalfitana (Naples coastline) and throughout much of the South there's a migliaccio di polenta made with corn meal, sausages, and grated cheese, cooked over the stove. Naples has the sumptuous lasagna and the poorer families could only afford it once a year, which meant that every family made secret variations to the recipe and there’s a great deal of argument over whose is best. Throughout much of the Italy, however, Carnevale is an occasion for simple pastries, fritters of various recipes and of course fish and pasta.

In my family, lasagna (made with the meatballs and sausage cooked in the gravy, ricotta cheese mixture (ricotta cheese, eggs, pecorino romano grated cheese, fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper) and mozzarella and of course, gravy and lasagna pasta. Then a leg of lamb or lamb roast with potatoes roasted in the same pan, tossed salad, stuffed mushrooms, artichokes (stuffed of course), followed by a various fresh fruits, shelled nuts and Pizza Dolce (the Italian ricotta cheese cake) for desert is the menu for the day. Oh, and don’t forget the cannoli and fresh Italian crusty bread. Take note that an authentic cannoli has tiny fruit citron candies, just a hint of chocolate shavings or bits and ricotta cheese and some powdered sugar. Some areas in Italy dip the ends in chopped pistachio nuts for not only a great flavor but the green to compliment the red cherry candied fruit and white of the ricotta cheese. It just turned out beautiful to look at as well as delicious. The closest thing to a real ricotta filled cannoli after a seek and search mission in Louisville, was surprisingly, Vito’s Pizzeria on Preston Highway. We had seen Vito’s for years when visiting Louisville and driving from the airport and decided to stop in. It was a hot day and we bought a couple of them to take home. Five minutes outside and the ricotta filling started to melt – an excellent sign that you have a good ricotta filling without fillers to make it pasty or overly sweet.

I am happy to say that Kroeger’s in Middletown on Shelbyville Road is now selling chunks of Peccorino Romano cheese imported from Italy. It’s wonderful and is the same price as Sam’s Club. The only difference is, you have to grate it yourself. Grating cheese before home food processors, used to be my weekly job at home. All the kids had to grate the cheese which got them involved in the food preparations one way or another. I never heard any kid moan and groan over this little task because every once in a while, there would be a piece that couldn’t get grated and of course quickly disappeared. Pecorino Romano doesn’t have that tangy flavor that sometimes adds a tang to your dishes. Especially if you get a tomato sauce that is a little too acidic, the other grated cheeses only add more tang, because they are made with cow’s milk. Peccorino Romano is made from sheeps milk and I can’t describe how great this cheese is. It’s a salty cheese with a aged bite to it and just marvelous. Kroeger will give you a little sample and you can taste the difference between the parmesan cheeses with the tangy woody taste and the aged Peccorino.

Lasagna – traditional in Naples and Campania. The variations of lasagna are endless and it depends on the availability of products in the various regions. The wealthier the family, the more ingredients went into the lasagna. (In my family back in New York, the Sunday gravy was the start to the lasagna). Grandma, mom and my aunts would make this huge pot (about 8 quarts) of gravy starting early in the morning. They would put two carrots (peeled and cut in half) in the gravy to get rid of the excess acidity. Carrots also are sweet themselves so it’s a great way to enhance the sauce and eat them later.

The meatballs were dropped in the gravy during the last half hour of cooking. We never fried or baked them separately unless we needed more meatballs and the gravy was already done. We normally cook them right in the gravy to ensure moist flavorful meatballs. (It also saves a lot of work and avoids the meatballs getting a crusty edge which actually makes it harder for the “gravy” to penetrate the crusty edges. When making the lasagna, we break up some of the meatballs and sausage into each layer with the ricotta cheese mixture (ricotta, mozzarella cheese cubed, a beaten egg and fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper and Peccorino Romano grated cheese). After 4 layers (4 inch deep roasting pan), each layer topped with some gravy over the meats and cheese mixture, the top layer of pasta would get some gravy, a few twists of the ground fresh black pepper and pecorino Romano grated cheese and into the oven. We also have lasagna on New Years Day for good luck (the long pasta) and the meat to bring in prosperity for the rest of the year. (SEE PASTA CHARTS BELOW)

Polenta - For the poor people, they make polenta (which suddenly is considered a $10 plate in some of the non-Italian area restaurants in the U.S. is delicious. Actually, polenta is corn mean which cost about a dime a serving. The yellow corn meal is sometimes hard to find here in Louisville but we did find some in Kroeger’s. Several times, Kroeger’s didn’t have it and we found it at Meier’s.

We top off the polenta with crumbled sausage from the “gravy”, Italian white beans, Pecorino Romano grated cheese and fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley. A couple of twists from the fresh ground black pepper top it off. It’s also delicious with a little butter and grated Pecorino Romano cheese as a side dish.

You will find that when you use grated Peccorino Romano, you’ll never go back to other grated cheeses, especially dishes involving a tomato sauce or “gravy”.

Fritters (Frittelle) are traditional in Florence. Some are made from semolina flour, others add raisons.

Please share some of your Easter and Lent recipes with your fellow club members by e-mailing me at KPuzo@insightbb.com. Don’t forget to include a picture of your food, celebration and yourself (plus your name and email address). I’ll add it to our website in Kate’s “Italian Holiday Traditions.”