Investigating Italy

ellery34
Oct 9
3 min read

In 1989, October was officially designated as Italian-American Heritage and Culture month. Though it may not be as well-known or as well-broadcasted as Hispanic Heritage month or Black History Month, over 5% of Americans have self-reported as Italian-American, meaning that (statistically), one in every twenty people you see believes their Italian heritage to be an important part of their identity!

Religion

Though Italy is the home of the Catholic Church, it only ranks 20th in its percentage of Catholics worldwide! About 75% of its population identifies as Catholic, with a higher percentage being found in Southern Italy compared to the northern part. This proves a stark contrast to the 56% of Italian-Americans who are Catholic, with 19% of them being Protestant.

The Catholic Church believes itself to be the only group that directly carries out Jesus's will of spreading Christianity. It is ruled by a pope, who is the spiritual successor to Jesus's primary apostle, Saint Peter. In Catholicism, the pope is Jesus's representative on Earth, and is a paragon of morality.

Catholicism includes several holidays which are well-known even to the more secular American, such as Easter or Christmas.

Festivals/Holidays

Some of the more notable holidays celebrated by Italians and Italian-Americans are Easter, All Saint's Day, and Christmas.

Easter

Easter is a floating holiday generally taking place between March and May. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. In many countries, Easter Sunday, as well as the days surrounding it, are national holidays.

Some common ways to celebrate Easter is to dye eggs, which symbolize Jesus's empty tomb. In modern times, some people hide the eggs around their house for their children to find, reminiscent of the search for Jesus's tomb. These eggs are often filled with candy as a treat for people who abstained from rich foods during Lent, a 40-day fasting period taking place prior to Easter.

All Saint's Day

Celebrated on November 1st, All Saint's Day honors—you guessed it—all Christian Saints. The holiday involves visiting and making offerings to the resting places of dead loved ones. In Catholicism, All Saint's day is a holy day of obligation, meaning that practicing Catholics go to mass on that day, even if it is not a Sunday. In Italy, All Saint's Day is a national holiday.

The first celebration of All Saint's Day was in the 4th century CE, after Easter. In the 9th century CE it was moved to be celebrated on November 1st.

Christmas

Christmas is quite possibly the most important holiday in Catholicism, matched only by Easter. Typically, one goes to a mass held on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself. In the US, this is one of the points in the year with the highest attendance.

People generally decorate for Christmas with gold, red, and green, as well as creating nativity scenes in their house. The gold represents one of the gifts from the magi, as well as royalty. It also common to decorate evergreen trees, symbolizing eternal life. The red symbolizes the blood Jesus spilt while dying, and the green

Christmas is also a time of giving gifts to others, a large reason for its secular popularity. The tradition of gift giving is generally linked back to Saint Nicholas from 3rd or 4th century, or the gifts of the Three Kings.

Saint Anthony's Feast in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts

Some Catholic holidays are celebrated by region, such as Saint Anthony's Feast, a very popular festival which takes place in Massachusetts. It was started in America as a way for Italian immigrants to celebrate their heritage over one hundred years ago, and is a great example of Italian heritage in America.

Global Distribution

Outside of Italy, the highest concentrations of Italian people or people with Italian heritage are in Argentine, Brazil, and the US. About 62.5% of all Argentinians have Italian heritage, and according to a rough estimate, 15% of all Brazilians do as well.

The reason for this is major waves of immigration from Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries, which primarily reached these countries.

Other countries with a notable Italian population include Uruguay, Venezuela, Australia, Colombia, Paraguay, Canada, France, and Germany.

Learn More

While Union County isn't known for it's Italian Heritage, there are still ways to learn more about the beautiful Italian culture. One can visit Italian restaurants such as Bistro D'Antonio in Waxhaw, or Napoli Italian Restuarant in Monroe.

Union County's public libraries also have amazing resources for learning about Italian culture, such as "Under the Tuscan sun : at home in Italy" and "The Italians".