Friday, July 13, 2012

I’m back!!!

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...


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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

4 comments:

Terri Osburn said...

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.

Maria G. Swan said...

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.

Catherine Lee said...

We have a wonderful Italian bakery locally called La Gemma. They make the best cookies and pastries. YUM!

Maria G. Swan said...

now I want cookies...