Just what is it that we're celebrating on Monday?

Here's an official explanation. (see below)Also I know everything in Perugia is going on at Monteluce.

holidays, because it's the day that the Virgin was Assunta in Cielo, in other words transported directly to Heaven to be with her son, Jesus, and also to look after those of us still here on Earth. As is the case with many other Christian holidays, Ferragosto goes back further and has Pagan origins, which in this case are multiple. On the one hand, in 18 BC the Roman Emperor Augustus declared that all of the month of August would be dedicated to the Feriae Augusti, a series of festivals and celebrations; the most important was held on the 13th, and was dedicated to Diana, the Goddess whose task it was to oversee the woods, the phases of the Moon, and Maternity. The services, which were celebrated in Diana's temple on the Aventine, was one of the few occasions in which Romans from all walks of life, masters and slaves alike, mingled freely, and the women, who made offerings to the Goddess throughout the year in the hope that their labor would be safe and happy, offered prayers to Lucina, the guise Diana assumed when she was acting as protectoress of Labor.

In addition to Diana, the Feriae Augusti were an occasion to celebrate Vortumnus, God of the Seasons and therefore of the ripening of crops, Conso, the God of the Harvest, and Opeconsiva, who personified the abundant harvest. In short, the Feriae were a celebration of fertility and maternity; like many other Roman holidays they derived from the East, and in particular from the Syrian celebration of Atagartis, a Mother Goddess who oversaw both fertility and work in the fields. With the advent of Christianity people turned to the Virgin for help in these matters, and began celebrating Her in August in the church in Jerusalem that was said to be Her resting place; the custom spread through the rest of the Empire under Mauritius, in the late 500s.

It's important to note that this was just a celebration of Mary; the modern dogma that she was transported to Heaven on Ferragosto took hold in the 18th century, and was only formally proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

Having said all this, though the dogma is recent the custom of celebrating the Virgin in Mid-August goes way back, and as is the case with most holidays, people would cook up something special for the occasion. Artusi, who published the first truly successful Italian cookbook in 1890, suggests a number of dishes including the following, which are drawn from The Art of Eating Well my translation of his book (Random House, 1996):

A soup:
Quail with Rice
A pair of entremets, dishes to nibble upon:
Syringe fritters and Roman Fried Meat
A stew:
Beef a la mode, served with a Zucchini tart
Something chilled:
Chicken in tuna sauce
A roast:
Chicken, served with salad
Dessert:
Babá, a Neapolitan cake, and chocolate ice cream
This meal was obviously a major undertaking (I have already reduced it some), and you will likely want to reduce it still more. But it does give an idea of how people might have celebrated Ferragosto in Italy a century ago.

Diana, can you give the link to Kyle's article (I am assuming it is Kyle as he is the one who translated Artusi), also make sure it is okay to republish it without his permission.

Thanks Diana. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I should have remembered that it was the feastday of the Assumption. Even tho I was raised Catholic, this day was not a big deal in the U.S., so that's my excuse.

quote:

On the one hand, in 18 BC the Roman Emperor Augustus declared that all of the month of August would be dedicated to the Feriae Augusti, a series of festivals and celebrations;

That's because the divine Augustus' birthday fell around the 15th of this month.

I can agree with the guy: I normally like to extend my birthday to a week if possible, so if I was Empress I would party at least a whole month (the month named after ME) and be generous with the subjects...

quote:

Originally posted by Barb (and Art):
Just what is it that we're celebrating on Monday?

Personally, I was celebrating India's Independence Day.