Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878.Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878.
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
Let us now pass to other parts of the island and share the
nuptial-banquet. Everywhere great quantities of macaroni or of fried
fish are prepared, and the guests eat and drink to repletion. Even the
most miserly are liberal on this occasion, and a proverb advises one to
attend the weddings of the avaricious: _A li nozzi di l'avaru
trovaticci_. The bride and groom, as can be easily imagined, have their
heads full of other things than macaroni and fried fish. At Borghetto
baked beans and pease are served not only to the bridal-party, but also
to the others, to whom, during the banquet, it is the custom to send a
dish of _maccarruna di zitu_--a dish in use also in Modica until within
fifty years. In Assaro there are the accustomed sweetmeats, the cakes of
honey and flour, and roast pease and almonds. At the banquet, where
usually these things are not lacking, they begin with macaroni, which in
Milazzo is poured out on a napkin, with cheese grated over it. Then
follow sausages or roast meat. At the nuptial-banquet of the peasants of
Modica a dish is placed on the table intended to receive the gifts of
the guests for the bride: one gives money, another gold; one a ring,
another a dollar; nor do those who come last wish to be outdone by the
first. At the end of the banquet come the toasts, more or less lively
and witty.
After the banquet follows the ball, which at Favaratta is held eight
days after the wedding. The orchestra consists of two or three violins,
which play the whole evening, or afternoon if the marriage took place in
the daytime. The repertoire is that of the people, and embraces the
dances known as the _fasola_,[24] the _tarantella_, the _tarascuri_, the
_'nglisina_, the _capona_, the _chiovu_, etc. In some of the towns in
the province of Palermo it is the groom who engages the musicians and
conducts them to the house. In Modica they dance the _ciovu_ (the
_chiovu_ above mentioned) to the accompaniment not only of violins, but
also of tambourines, etc. The groom opens the ball, holding his hat in
his hand and making a profound bow to the bride, who rises with alacrity
and begins to dance with all her might. The groom makes another bow and
sits down again, and the bride, dancing alone, makes a turn round the
room and selects a partner from the guests, who in turn choose a woman,
and so on in graceful alternation.
In general, in large cities, there is no one who calls out the figures
at the ball: the musicians play what they please, unless they are asked
to change or continue a tune that has tired or pleased any one of the
guests. The dancing is without any rule or order: nevertheless, there is
some regularity in its execution, especially in the pantomime that
accompanies it. The bride and groom dance their share: the first one
with whom the bride dances is the groom, who permits her to dance with
others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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