The second in a short series of articles that almost got away – Looking back through the archives of barganews at all the events that took place recently, one or two stood out as being of interest but for one reason or another were never published. These are “the ones that got away” – The first one was the Nicolao and Aristo duet which we published last month. This time it is another series of images (and a couple of thoughts about how Barga is changing) that took place at the start of November – on the 1st of November to be precise, the day after Halloween.
The original Halloween was for adults and was a pretty scary event all things considered. It was taken across the Atlantic to the the States by waves of immigrants where over the years it was transformed into a more commercially minded, child orientated kind of party and from there it was re-exported back to Europe in its mutated form.
It is a relatively new phenomenon here in Italy and people have not yet really worked out just what is supposed to happen. They know that there is a good deal of dressing up to be done with masks and stuff and so what actually appears on the night is a slightly “horrored” up version of carnival but in October and not February. Each year more people take part and each year the polemic grows as to just what is the point of a festa that celebrates death, blood and gore. Is it just another kind of carnival but with added blood or does it have stronger, deeper roots stretching back into our collective memories from Europe in darker times?
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The Jury is still out on this one but what is becoming clearer is that certain habits and customs are changing and the driving force for this change, as happens quite often is generational – it’s the younger Barghigiani who no longer seem to have any problems in dealing with situations that for some of the older residents of Barga most certainly would and do present serious problems.
Nowhere was this clearer than in Piazza Angelio the day after Halloween when as part of the clear up of all the “dark” paraphernalia of the night before, a group of children found to their evident joy a full-size coffin.
The first and second of November in Italy are days when traditionally people prepare and visit the graves of their deceased relatives. It is a sombre time heavy with the cloying smell of chrysanthemums that decorate the cemeteries.
All Souls’ Day is also known as the Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. The official Latin designation Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum, on which this last name is based, is rendered more literally in Portuguese Comemoração de todos os Fiéis Defuntos and many other languages. Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos or de los Difuntos) is used in Spanish-speaking countries, and Thursday of the Dead (Yom el Maouta) in Lebanon, Israel and Syria. The Western celebration of All Souls’ Day is on 2 November and follows All Saints’ Day, which commemorates the departed who have attained the beatific vision.
So imagine the surprise (and probable discomfort) that some people found walking through Piazza Angelio when confronted by the scene of a group of small children taking it in turns to lie in the coffin and have the lid firmly closed over them.
The wooden coffin although looking very real was in fact a prop left over from one of the Opera Barga productions from many years ago and the game that the children were playing, was just that – a game but it did quite nicely define the ” state of play” in Barga society as we come up towards the end of the first decade of the new millennium.
In the late 80’s I was involved with the making of a spoof black and white horror film shot for what was then the fore runner of MTV in Italy during those years, a channel called Videomusic. It had all the usual requirements for a horror movie – Frankenstein, were wolves, creepy castles, a hunchback and a Dracula who rose out of coffin once the moon was out. Filming was done at various locations in Florence and Lucca and all went without a hitch except that nobody from the staff could find a coffin to use in the film. They did not want to use an expensive new coffin and second hand coffins were a bit difficult to come by but in the end after a good deal of searching around Tuscany, one was found for the film. I was in the car when the coffin was picked up and remember to this day the face of the petrol pump attendant who when looking into the back of the estate car registered just what it contained … he pulled the pump out of the tank and spilled petrol onto the ground in his haste to get away from the car .
Things are changing, some more rapidly than others, and certain mores, superstitions, beliefs and traditions are falling by the wayside as the modern world forces its way even into the most remote of places and makes itself felt.
The children playing in Piazza Angelio were without fear and enjoying their game, in contrast with some of the adults passing by who showed on their faces emotions ranging from concern, trepidation and in a couple of cases – outright disgust.
The times they are a changin’