Italy’s Holidays

Italy isn’t just for travelers looking for the best pizza or cheese. The boot shaped country boasts with gorgeous coast lines, offers historically rich cities, and is host to snowcapped mountains. Italy is also known for the way they celebrate their holidays, as it is a very religious country. However, many individuals still seem to have little to no knowledge about the way they celebrate their holidays.

Each year in Venice, Italy a carnival takes place called Carnivale Di Venezia. Carnivale is a celebration that takes place during a 2-week period and ends with the celebration of lent, which is 40 days prior to Easter. The festival is most famously known for their usage of masks and how elaborate they are. While they do celebrate Easter, they call it by a different name. The Easter celebration is better known as Pasqua. The most popular way to celebrate this holiday is to go to St. Peter’s Basilica to take part in evening mass that is conducted by the pope. Another thing that is common all throughout Italy is to have large meals with their families. The meals consist of lots of different foods, but the two most common are lamb and eggs. They have eggs, because they are a symbol of new life and new beginnings representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The weekend of the Pasqua celebration is spent with strictly family and they will then celebrate with friends that following Monday.

Another religious holiday they celebrate is known as Bafana, which is like our Christmas. We share the same concept being that it was the day Jesus Christ was born, however their story is a little different. Instead of believing in Santa they believe in Befana, which is where the holiday gets its name. Befana is an old lady that is said to be a witch. They believe that she lived on the road that the three wise men took on their journey to get to Bethlehem, and they had stopped to ask her if she wanted to join. She ended up saying no, and later heard all the news about the birth of the new baby king and realized she made a mistake not going. She then made it her mission to deliver gifts to the children on her magic broom at night to see their face while sleeping in hopes to see the child of Christ.

While this is only a brief description of the way they celebrate two of their holidays I hope you learned something or at least found it somewhat interesting.

Written By: Ximena Delgado