Origin Peeve!

I'm always reading and researching ancient Italia and Sikelia, even when I'm not boning up for a class or a presentation. Lately, however, I've been turning my attention specifically toward Tarantella, the difference between southern/Sicilian and northern styles, and it's origins, before the cult of Dionysos.

So many sources which discuss Tarantella in Italy claim that because Italy was part of Magna Graecia, the Greeks must have brought this practice, as well as their pantheon and any and all magic to Italy. 

BULLSHIT!

I'm not denying influence and exchange and cross-over, but this is like saying the Pilgrims brought corn to the Americas and taught the Native Americans how to cultivate and use it! Eventually, the religion of the colonists was adopted, but it doesn't mean the folk practices were ever forgotten or discontinued.

Colonists are as changed by the Natives as the Natives are by the colonists. In this case, the Sikels and Sicels and Elmyans were already there when the Greeks showed up. Enna was already a site of Mother/Daughter Goddess worship way before the Greeks ever set foot on Her shores. So why aren't the ancient Sicilians given credit for doing the influencing?

It's lazy research and lazy writing to assume that because two groups touched, the group we know more about are the ones who did the influencing instead of the ones who were influenced. The Greeks are still around (tho it's lazy to assume there's one homogeneous group) while the Etruscans are not. Actually, it would be a better comparison to say the Etruscans were absorbed into larger Roman, and later, Italian culture while the Spartans were absorbed into the larger Athenean and later Greek culture. We don't know which traditions specifically came from where.

The Romans had a few of their own rites and customs but they learned from the Etruscans and the Sabines. This is documented by the ancient writers (judge the veracity as you will). No one is claiming the Greeks came along and taught the Etruscans how to consecrate a city or the art of Augury.

So why are we talking about the Greeks inventing Tarantella? Sacred dance existed before Athens, before Attica. Sacred dance was used by the Sicilians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians the Israelites and the Sumerians too. Every group has their sacred movement. Again, Native Americans had their sacred movement and no one is saying that the Pilgrims taught them how to do it.

I think my head of steam has run its course. As always, I love to hear the opinions of others and get new insight and perspectives.

The Mysterious Moon

The ancient calendar of Athens was lunisolar- it was based on both sun and moon. We know that their new year started on the first new moon after the summer solstice. We also know that the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated from this full moon until the new moon. Tonight begins the Descent of the Goddess.

I've wanted to talk about this and to not talk about this. I feel like this mystery cult was stolen from Sicily and somehow resent it. I'll get over it and come to a greater appreciation and understanding, but that's how I feel at the moment.

In rereading the papers on and history of Lake Enna and Pergusa in Sicily, I realized something: This is the time of year the Lake would turn red:

Situated in the province of Enna in a vast grain-growing region of Sicily, Lake Pergusa is one of very few natural lakes that remain on an island famed in antiquity for its wetlands. Pergusa's basin was formed eons ago because of the sudden sinking of the earth's rock layers and is fed only by rainwater and underground tricklings, which are slightly salinated and sulfurous. Italian scientist Sergio Angeletti has noted, "This lake represents a marvelous example in microcosm ... of the formation of the ocean four to five million years ago."

The lake periodically undergoes a remarkable reddening phenomenon because of the presence of a red, sulfur-oxidizing bacterium (Thiocapsa roseopersicina) in its waters. During summer months of years in which the sulfur content reaches a critical level, the bacteria proliferate to such an extent that the lake's waters turn either partially or entirely a deep red color, and the environs smell of sulfur for miles around. Over a period of several weeks, the bacteria reduce the sulfur level; they, in turn, are eaten by a tiny, transparent crustacean; and the lake returns to its normal color. The phenomenon, which has been documented only since the twentieth century, was studied in 1932 by Italian scientist Achille Forti, who dubbed Pergusa "the lake of blood."

If you haven't read Margurite Rigoglioso's research on this, you simply must. The above quote was taken from her well researched paper. I've posted it on the blog before, but it deserves to be posted again. Tonight is a quickie because I need to go prepare for tonight's full moon festivities! Tomorrow I hope to post about what's going on in the rest of Italy at this time of year, especially Rome's Ludi Romani.

I was going to leave off tonight with a quote from this paper, but I can't pick just one! If you haven't yet read Persephone's sacred lake and the ancient female mystery religion in the womb of sicily. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion | September 22, 2005 | Rigoglioso, Marguerite, please do. There will be a quiz later. With prizes. The prize is knowledge of a fascinating place and perspective!