Baby Boy Halliday is due any day now, so I'm off putting
the finishing touches on the nursery and sleeping as much as possible (since I
know that will be a treat of the past very soon!), and While I am off on
maternity leave, I've got the lovely and talented Maria Grazia Swan coming to
hang out with you guys every other Friday in my place. I'll be sure to pop in
and post pics of Baby now and then, but in the meantime, please show Maria some
love. Take it away Maria...
* * *
When Gemma asked
if I’d like to cover Fridays while she takes some well deserved time off, I
could hardly contain myself. I love to post on Killer Fiction and can’t wait to
read the comments you wonderful people leave.
Then reality sets
in and I ask myself, “What am I going to write about? Let’s see, Gemma is much
younger, much prettier, definitely blonder, she has one son more than I do, and
she sells zillions more books than me. Ah! What do I have that she doesn’t? I’m
Italian. Wait, Gemma is an Italian name, it means jewel, there may be an
Italian connection there. Okay, but even so, I have been Italian forever, I
have a lot more Italian stories to tell.”
What I’m trying to
say is that I will post stories of my growing up Italian and some of what
happened after I discovered America.
Do you know that
Italians celebrate name day as much as birthdays?
When I was growing
up, Catholicism was the only game in town, and all newborns had to have a name
with a corresponding saint. That’s not a biggie since there is a saint for
every day of the year. For example, Saint Gemma Galgani is celebrated on April
11th, so if your name is Gemma your name day would be April 11, and
you get to have a party, and friends and relatives wish you ‘Buon Onomastico’—Happy name day.
Ah, Italy, the
country with the most religious holidays! Italians find all kinds of excuses to
celebrate, and then they need one more day to recuperate from the celebration.
That’s why no one works the day after Christmas or the day after Easter, and so
on.
And while on the
subject of Italy, if any of you is planning a trip there, don’t hesitate to ask
me questions. If I don’t know the answer, I know where to get it.
Ciao.
Maria Grazia Swan
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4 comments:
I grew up Catholic in a town full of Italians! (Home town of Dean Martin.) Though I'm not Italian, I love the food and long to visit the country. And I have the name thing down. I'm Theresa after St. Theresa the little flower. Which is quite funny as upon meeting me the first thing you'd realize is that I am no little flower. ;)
Looking forward to your posts and pictures of the new baby boy.
Hi Theresa, Teresa (Italian version) was my great grandmother's name and the church you see above the blog is the same church I was baptized, had my first communion and eventually got married in it.Thank you for posting. Ciao.
We have a wonderful Italian bakery locally called La Gemma. They make the best cookies and pastries. YUM!
now I want cookies...
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