Human Flower Project
With a Little Help from My Famiglia
One of the biggest floral holidays in Italy is Ognissanti (All Saints, Nov. 1) and the following day, All Souls (Nov. 2), when families come together to give departed relatives a heavenly boost.
Decorating the cemetery in Quarona, Italy
Photo: Cimitero di Quarona
Where we live, guys along the highway hold out cardboard signs reading, “Could Use a Little Help.”—It’s a refrain suited to everyone and all time.
In the Catholic faith, early November is when the living extend themselves to the dead, especially those less-than-saintly relatives who preceded us and “could use a little help.” For them, there’s All Souls Day, observed November 2, known as El Dia de los Muertos in Mexico and Aller Seelen in Germany. In Italy, this is one of the biggest floral holidays of the year.
Half of all Italians will visit the family graveyard between October 29 and November 5. “Cities where the tradition is strongest are Naples and Bari with 70% of the population” taking part. That means decorating the cemetery with fresh flowers, about 100m euros worth. White chrysanthemums are especially favored; they’re in season, and Italians consider white flowers funereal.
This looks like an excellent article for those who read Italian.
A cemetery in Rome, Italy
Photo: La Vergogna
While the tradition is surely pre-Christian, its Catholic roots trace back to St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, (994-1042). It seems a pilgrim to the Holy Land had washed up on a “desolate island. A hermit living there told him that amid the rocks was a chasm communicating with purgatory, from which perpetually rose the groans of tortured souls.” The hermit had managed to discern in all those wails what the ghosts were saying: that the prayers of believers, “especially the monks of Cluny,” could rescue tortured spirits.
Returning to France, the pilgrim told his story to Odilo “who then set the 2nd of November as a day of intercession on the part of his community for all the souls in purgatory.”
This good article by Stefano Rossini describes the lighter side of Ognissanti.
“Until a few decades ago and especially in the South of Italy, this was in fact the only celebration of the year when children received presents, usually sweets and toys…. Parents tell their children that if they behave correctly, the good souls of the dead might bring them presents. On the 1st of November, children go to bed in the hope to be remembered by dead members of the family while parents prepare the presents and hide them around the house.
Photo: Society of Saint Paul
“In Sicily one of the traditional sayings for the children to ask for many presents is this:
“Armi santi, armi santi,
Io sugnu unu e vuatri siti tanti
Mentri sugnu ‘ntra stu munnu di guai
Cosi di morti mittitiminni assai.”
“Holy souls, holy souls,
I am one, and you are many,
While I am in this world of troubles,
Bring me lots of presents.”
“Help” comes in many forms: bicolored, meditative, ruffled, sugary….With the act of memory, it flows in two directions through the family.