User:Bishonen/Sicilian Christmas
Sicily, the largest of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa,1 boasts a remarkable range of Christmas customs, from the traditional blessing of Santa's goats (known in some isolated regions of the island as Satan's2 goats) by the legendary Marchese of Ragusa and his six unruly children, to the tradition-encrusted baking of the sugar-encrusted Sicilian cucciá or Baroque gingerbread palazzo on the day of St. Lucy (Lucia, or December 13, the shortest day of the year). An important ingredient in the latter was originally angel dust, but in the 21st century it has evolved into an innocuous sweetmeat (see Porter, p. 43).3
Indigenous customs[edit]
In the more isolated and inbred regions, the traditional Santa Claus figure, sometimes known as St. Nicholas, is replaced by St. Giacomo, a saint of huge piety and good looks. The most handsome man on the island is usually selected for this honour. He arrives riding in a Sicilian cart, painted with Christmas scenes, pulled by a team of matching goats. He carries a carved figure of Madonna. St. Giacomo's arrival is heralded by a traditional 45 gun salute fired from the revolvers of the local head man, known as the Godfather (in the local Latin dialect "Il Filiocht", a handsome if somewhat elderly and grizzled gentleman). Some hours later when the children have almost stopped crying and the cowering peasants have crept out of hiding, the local people make their humble offerings to St. Giacomo. Usually Giacomo prefers freshly printed Euros, but will accept sticks of candy from the weeping children. Giacomo then returns with his gifts and fairy helpers to his magical grotto in the Cayman islands. One of Giacomo's chief fairy helpers and special favourite, known as "Fairy Bishonen", is a radiant mature woman, sometimes referred to in the native dialect as Brunhilde the shieldmaiden, to emphasize her warlike, valkyrie character and remind Scandinavian tourists of home (see next section).
When Giacomo and Bishonen have taken off in their magic Batmobile with the loot/friendly offerings, Il Filiocht (lovingly known as "Father Fil") leads the shuffling peasants back to his cave on the hillside, where he reads them very long poems in Gaelic until they all fall asleep. Thereupon Il Filiocht and his friend ALoanus-Sharkus remove the peasants' remaining personal items of jewellery (for safe keeping) and ALoanus-Sharkus plots the taxes (for he is a tax lawyer) to be levied on the destitute peasants over the new year. On awakening, the peasants recite the ancient prayer "A loan, a loan, give us a loan." sung to the tune of Stanford's Don't Cry for me Argentina. The goats — as well as an occasional miscreant peasant — are cooked in a full-scale replica of the legendary Sicilian bull, a bronze brazen bull created by Perillus for Giacomo's ancestor Phalaris the "tyrant of Sicily". Portions of the cooked meat are then sold to tourists at a small profit.4
Sir James George Frazer, in chapter 70 of his classic work The Golden Bough, demonstrated conclusively that Il Filiocht is the modern-day representative of the original Mediterranean fertility deity, deriving from the same shared root as Osiris, Attis and Tammuz. In section 6 of chapter 48 of the same work, titled The Corn-spirit as a Scapegoat, Frazer discusses the tradition that "the corn-spirit, who has been caught in the form of a goat or otherwise, lives in the farmhouse or barn over winter". It is in this very barn that the Sicilian goats are hitched up to the Christmas cart.
Multicultural customs[edit]
Orgy and redemption[edit]
Like the other Canary islands, Sicily has long been patronized by sun-hungry Northern European tourists in his'n hers velour track suits, brought to the islands by charter flight for centuries. A certain intermingling of cultures has consequently taken place, with some Nordic Christmas customs infiltrating the native celebrations, such as the habit of singing the lugubrious Swedish Lucia chant "Natten går tunga fjät" (="Night walks heavy feet") all through the palazzo-baking on December 13, and the enjoyment of a joint Finnish-type Christmas sauna by all ages and genders on Christmas Eve itself. Some of these customs have developed into considerably rowdier versions here than in their lands of origin, with the sauna in particular frequently degenerating into an orgy. However, this endearing fertility rite (typical of the vital traditions imported by Viking tradesmen everywhere) is slowly being commercialized by a local priest Padre Augusto the Blessed who prays for the redemption of all (and accepts all major credit cards as well as "pound notes, loose change, bad checks, anything").
Guinness and goat[edit]
In 2000 Sicily was invaded by Argentina. The Argentinians had in fact confused Sicily with "Il Emerald Islands" over which they have a justified claim. The British premier Margaret Beckett and American president George Bush immediately sent a task force to repel them, and on 24th December 2000 Margaret Beckett entered Port Palermo on the back of a goat, preceded by Padre Augusto on a segway reciting holy incantations. The furious Sicilians who were unclear what it had to do with Beckett and Bush in the first place, and rather liked the cultural facilities and improvements to domestic plumbing introduced by the Argentinians, instantly declared 24th December Argentina day. Consequently Christmas Eve now has a distinct Hispanic air to its traditions, which culminate in a bull fight (which on this one day of the year replaces Sicily's famed specialty goatfighting) and gladiatorial fighting in the Island's ancient Greek Baroque amphitheatre.
Since these events, the population of the true Emerald Islands have discovered that rebuilding the roads of Sicily is a nice little earner,5 but compared to the "Sicilian goat" the Celtic tiger seems a slothful and inefficient machine. Another Christmas tradition that has arisen from invasion of migrant refugee workers from the Emerald Isles is the annual Yuletide Guinness and Goat Festival. This takes place in front of the cathedral on Advent Sunday, when joyful and exuberant Irishmen run through the Piazza del Duomo chased by wild marrauding he-goats, while the local spectators bombard them with cans of Guinness. The piazza is soon littered with the unconscious, and a lake of guiness. The victor is the last man standing, he is then born aloft, by the exited locals, into the ancient Baroque police station and incarcerated for the remainder of the Christmas period.
Anime and purgatory[edit]
The close ties between Sicily and Japan, evidenced in the very name of the ancient timeless Bishonen figure, serve to deepen the mystery of Sicily's location, since the generally accepted theory that it lies off the west coast of Africa gives little scope for historic interaction with Japanese culture (cf. note 1). Be that as it may, Sicily's anime cult has deep roots and surprisingly ecumenical relations with the Catholic Church, to the point where a joint Anime and Purgatory Baroque church for the two faith systems has been constructed in Ragusa, the Chiesa delle Anime del Purgatorio, shown right. The rites of Sicilian anime are closely guarded secrets, none more so than the unholy anime/purgatory events of Christmas night. It is whispered that on that night, Bishonen and her loyal band of otaku come in from the sea in spectacular flying machines and land in front of the Anime and Purgatory Church, on the steps of which nameless orgies then take place. Some witnesses insist that they have seen Padre Augusto playing an enthusiastic part in the latter. As of 2005, the Padre has coyly not responded to these "alleged" Herculean feats of prodigious bullish prowess, beyond the usual holy oaths, incantations, and drunken mumblings. Anecdotal origins of the Sicilian Prohibition Party derive from vows taken by the otaku after repeatedly flying off in the wrong direction when befuddled by orgiastic tomato wine.
Christmas folklore[edit]
St. Antonio[edit]
One of the most frightening of the many folk tales the small children are told, concerns the visitation to the island of the evil and wicked St. Antonio. This scary figure who arrived in the island one dark Christmas night, from an unknown far flung and probably uncivilised place, wearing a bushwacker's hat, carrying a boomerang and riding a kangaroo entered the village church and dared to re-write the bible. Despite the bible already having had a "light copy edit" from ALoanus-Sharkus and a "Tweaky Tweaky" from St Hoary. So angry were the Apostles at the hidden inline questions, being asked to make footnotes6 and provide references and to spell "judgment" and "traveler" and to avoid all use of the word "begat" altogether, that they caused a mighty Christmas tempest and lightning storm, so mighty that the wicked St Antonio was vaporised and never seen again. Despite this, rumors persist that he shall return on the day he has vowed to depart forever.
Some could insist there is a connection between St, Antonio, and San Phillipo the Semi-Expert — patron of the Saladblower™ the uniquely Sicilian household appliance which is a combination snow blower/salad spinner, who also serves as an important inspiration for the little known Sicilian iconic visual art tradition (predating the similar but different Sicilian anime tradition mentioned above, by a few days) consisting of icons which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or icon captions devoted exclusively to the topic of arachnid spinnings — but no evidence exists for such claims.
Zee Ogre[edit]
A more congenial creature of Christmas myth is Zee Ogre, also rumored to have arrived on a dark and stormy night from a far-flung shore. Zee Ogre is said to be a stern figure, to be seen only on Christmas night, and recognizable by the holly-wreathed shotgun from which he fires incessant volleys, bringing low all sorts of rubbish and nonsense that flies by overhead on this dark and spooky night. Anything his shotgun misses, he simply frightens to the ground by the use of his dark, irresistible eloquence and his far-echoing call of the magic word "Delete!" Strangely, the little children have no fear of this seasonal apparition, but instead great affection. A glimpse of his characteristic, shaggy shape outlined against the sky by a lightning bolt will bring them out of their hovels to enthusiastically follow him around and practice their own marksmanship with their peashooters, in a uniquely Sicilian form of the yuletide Wild Hunt (see Gundarsson, passim). The bolder tykes shout "Lu Ogru è Fonzie!" and also affect to emulate the Ogre's thunderous Delete calls in their own piping voices. It is told with wonder and respect at countless Sicilian firesides that these childish efforts have been known to bring a fleeting, kindly smile to the Ogre's sombre countenance.
Arthurian tradition[edit]
Many people and some weasels believe that Sicily was the legendary "Lyonesse"— the "land across the sea" that was the final resting place of King Arthur. Weasels have lived on the island since they first evolved, creating the modern landscape as they carved out burrows for themselves in this isolated environment. The fur-trimmed robes of Satan Claus are derived from the court dress of Camelot. The Arthurian legend may derive from the Viking Olaf Trygvasson of Norway who was raiding the Mediterranean in AD 988 when he heard of Sicily's hermit seer, whom he decided to test by sending his man Copivio in his place, claiming to be the Norwegian king. The seer recognised the hoax and counselled the king to try something more original. Impressed by the seer's wisdom, King Olaf abandoned Christianity and adopted the Christmas religion of Consumerism. Wearing the tomato red robes trimmed with weasel fur upon his return to Norway, Olaf has been featured on greeting cards for over a millennium.7
Sicilian Christmas in popular culture[edit]
- If played backwards, the song I Am the Walrus by the Beatles contains the phrase gingerbread palazzo.
- The horse's head scene from the movie The Godfather is in no way related.
- William Shakespeare was clearly aware of Sicilian Christmas customs, albeit at second hand. His knowledge of these customs helps clarify this line; "Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls." (Henry IV, Part 1 (4.1.7)).
- The Webcomic Goats draws on the satanic aspects of Sicilian Christmas culture.
- "Leave the gun. Take the canoli."
- "My old man? He hid the bike he got me for Christmas in his pants. Every time I ask him, he grabs down there and says, 'Yeah, I got your bicycle right here.'"
- The Old Man and the Sea; now what's that about?
- The Freedonian Front for Folicular Freedom referred to Sicilian Christmas customs directly in their pop-song, Hit Me Baby One More Time (soon to be a Featured Article on Wikipedia).
- In Star Wars Episode IV, Luke Skywalker meets Chewbacca for the first time, and "Chewy" displays a map of Sicily in the hair above his left temple. In 1978, this was an expression of solidarity with the Socialist Party of Sicily, and not, as some have held, an actual map to find the lost aircraft that George Lucas used to transport the single master saga script.
- I think that the heavy metal band Spinal Tap's groundbreaking "Christmas with the Devil", may in some way be connected to this whole Sicilian Santa/Satan Christmas thing.
- The upcoming movie Christmas on Mars, written and directed by Wayne Coyne and the other members of The Flaming Lips, was reportedly filmed in parts of Sicily and employed many famous Sicilian movie stars playing the role of "Tony #1 - #S."
Notes[edit]
^1 This location is the consensus of modern academic scholarship, although several non-mainstream theories would place Sicily in the Baltic, or even the Mediterranean. There are essentially three non-standard schools of thought: a) there are two or more Sicilys, b) Sicily is mobile (and fast!), and c) Sicily is inhabited by space aliens, who implant false memories of the journey into all visitors. According to Erich von Däniken's extension of c, Sicily is an alien space ship rather than an island per se. For a full discussion, see Wederhäufig.
^2 At least one person has speculated that the heavy metal band Spinal Tap's groundbreaking "Christmas with the Devil", may in some way be connected to this whole Sicilian Santa/Satan Christmas thing. (August, P. (2005). "Sicilian Christmas". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help))
^3 The tradition of psychopharmaceuticals is alledged by those who hold that not only is Sicily not in the Canary Islands but, indeed, not an island at all. These individuals base their theories on the well established researches of L. Ron Hubbard, who proved conclusively that Sicily is, in fact, a continent full of volcanoes and that false memories and ingrams were implanted into humans by evil Thetans who had been imprisoned in the volcano of Mount Aetna Insurance and Casualty Trust (for which Hubbard worked). For 200 billion years, these ancient Sicilians watched videos of winepresses and gorillas stomping tomatoes while wearing "these shoes that looked, you know, like they were Keds or something I don't know but, you know, like that." This, according to these researchers, accounts for the innate human desire to wear velour track suits (Carolina blue for preference (to match the color of the sky before Xenu blew it up), but maroon (to cover the wine stains, if you spill any) is an acceptable "sublimation") and drink wine.
^4 L'epistole di Phalaride tiranno degli agrigentini ; tradotte da la lingua greca nella volgare italiana ; con l'indice delle lettere posto nel fine. – In Vinegia: appresso Gabriel Giolito De Ferrari, 1549 discusses this tradition in depth. This volume also contains the first known reference to the so-called theory that Christmas was Irish in origin and formed part of the attempt by the natives of the Island of Saints and Scholars to bring light, education, dignity and cheap fabrics into the lives of their less fortunate continental neighbours.
^5 Trust me. I know.
^6 Like this.
^7 BEEP BEEP—non-mainstream alert. These speculations would be persuasive if they didn't rely on the asploded theory of a Mediterranean location for Sicily.
7 This footnote intentionally left blank.
References[edit]
- Author unknown: Ma lungi fia dal becco l'erba - tr. from local dialect: Kiss me, my lungs are full of grass - (Firenze, MCXCVII, privately printed by the Medici Press, copy consulted in the private library of Il Filiocht). Dog-eared, slight warping of spine, otherwise good condition; £4 or best offer. Click www.incunabula.it for our great Christmas sale!
- Graffiti left in: Frazer, Sir James George: The Golden Bough in Sicily (London, 1922) (Copy found in the Heavy Library, Oslo).
- Gundarsson, Kveldulf Hagen. "The folklore of the Wild Hunt and the furious host", Mountain Thunder: The Independent Pagan Magazine, issue 7, Yule 1992.
- Wederhäufig, Swen. "Where is Sicily?" Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 51, 2004.