Scritto da: Mi chiamo Claudia Mosca, un’aspirante scrittrice e articolista freelance.

Cultura d’estate, come festeggiare il ferragosto: storia e tradizioni

In Italia, i festeggiamenti di Ferragosto sono attesi tutto l’anno.

Nella notte del 15 Agosto, una delle più magiche dell’estate, amici e parenti si riuniscono per celebrare il Ferragosto.
La festa ha origini piuttosto antiche, e porta con sé una tradizione molto più lunga del previsto.

Il Ferragosto si festeggia per concedersi un momento di pausa e distrazione, per dimenticare i problemi quotidiani e godersi davvero l’estate.

Ma qual è la sua storia? Com’è nato il Ferragosto?

Quando nasce il Ferragosto

Il nome “Ferragosto” è legato al latino feriae Augusti (riposo di Augusto), in onore dell’imperatore romano Ottaviano Augusto.

Augusto – che ha dato il nome al mese di Agosto – fu il primo ad introdurre una festa estiva, un periodo di riposo dedicato a tutto l’impero. Lo istituì nel 18 a.C., rifacendosi alla tradizione dei Consualia, feste che celebravano la fine dei lavori agricoli.

Durante il periodo delle Feriae Augusti, tutto i cittadini si concedevano un momento di pausa. I lavori nei campi terminavano e i contadini potevano godersi la natura, augurando ai terreni fertilità per l’anno successivo.

Questa particolare ricorrenza, nata in veste di “evento pagano”, è stata poi assimilata dalla Chiesa Cattolica. Intorno al VII secolo, i Cristiani iniziarono a celebrare l’Assunzione di Maria, scegliendo
come data proprio il 15 Agosto.

Nella loro tradizione, Maria era stata Assunta (accolta in cielo sia come anima che come corpo) in agosto.

Da quel momento in poi, i festeggiamenti del Ferragosto non hanno mai abbandonato l’Italia. L’Assunzione di Maria è diventata motivo di gioia, un momento delicato da poter passare in compagnia della famiglia e degli amici.

Una tradizione lunga e profonda, quella del Ferragosto, ma sempre celebrata con la spensieratezza tipica degli Italiani.

Written by: Claudia Mosca, an aspiring author and freelance writer.

Summer culture, how to celebrate ferragosto: story and traditions

In Italy, the celebration of Ferragosto is highly anticipated throughout the year.

On the night of August 15, one of the most magical nights of summer, friends and family join together to celebrate Ferragosto. The holiday has quite ancient origins, and it carries a tradition much longer than expected.

Ferragosto is celebrated to give ourselves a moment of rest and distraction, to forget everyday problems and really enjoy the summer.

But what is its history? How was Ferragosto born?

When ferragosto was born

The name “Ferragosto” is related to the Latin Feriae Augusti (Augustus’ rest), in honor of the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus.

Augustus-who gave the month of August its name-was the first to introduce a summer festival, a period of rest dedicated to the entire empire. He instituted it in 18 B.C., following the tradition of the Consualia, a feast that celebrated the end of agricultural work.

During the period of the Feriae Augusti, all citizens enjoyed a time of rest. Work in the fields ended and farmers could enjoy nature, wishing the land fertility for the coming year.

This particular celebration, which began as a “pagan event,” was later assimilated by the Catholic Church. Around the seventh century, Christians began to celebrate the Assumption of Mary, choosing August 15 as the very date.

In their tradition, Mary had been Assumed (received into heaven as both soul and body) in August.

From then on, the Ferragosto celebrations have never left Italy. The Assumption of Mary has become reason of joy, a delicate moment to be spent in the company of family and friends.

The tradition of Ferragosto is both long and deep, but always celebrated with the typical lightheartedness of Italians.

Written by: Catherine Dell’Olio, a rising sophomore at Georgetown University.

Two Sundays ago, I had the pleasure of organizing a cards-playing event with Circolo Italiano.  We spent a lovely hour playing Scopa with whoever stopped by, meeting new people and getting to know each other—all while trying our best to be the first to get eleven points!

Some of my first memories of card-playing are around my nonna’s kitchen table, playing fast-paced Scopa with my cousins and betting quarters on Briscola hands with my aunts and uncles.  My family has always loved playing cards, and I grew up with both decks of 52 and 40 cards, learning both American card games and the Italian classics.  When I moved into Georgetown, I brought with me an old deck of Neapolitan cards for entertainment, and taught my friends how to play Scopa and solitaire one night as a break from studying.  None of them had ever even seen Neapolitan cards before, but all caught on quickly and fell in love with the games.  Scopa has become a classic in my dorm room—even if I do occasionally need to remind the players of the differences between the re and fante!

I will always love card playing because it reminds me of great memories with my family, but found at Georgetown that it’s brought me further along in my study of Italian.  From picking up new vocabulary with each game (scopa, for example, means broom because a winning hand sweeps up all the cards) to learning more about the history of these games (which have been played in Italy since the 16th century), cards are a great opportunity to learn more about Italian culture and heritage.  And of course, they’re always a lot of fun!

Written by: Colin Grant, a team member of The Italian Language Foundation, earned a Bachelor of Arts & Science from Indiana University.  He majored in Media Advertising with a Minor in Italian.  Colin utilizes his creative skills in media, advertising and Italian to support ILF’s social media and website content.

I decided to study Italian in college for many different reasons.  I am not ethnically Italian and I didn’t know anyone who spoke Italian growing up.  My family has a lot of Irish ancestry and would always have big family Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations.  As I started high school I hoped to be able to study Italian, the unique culture fascinated me and I wanted to learn about it as well as the rich history that surrounds all of Italy.  I am also a big Formula One fan and Scuderia Ferrari is my favorite team.  One of the initial reasons for wanting to learn Italian at the start of high school was so that I could read about Ferrari in Italian and be able to know what the local motorsport journalists were saying.  I was disappointed to discover that Italian was not one of the languages offered at my high school, and I instead studied Spanish for all four years.

As I was starting college and learned I had a language requirement, I immediately decided to take an entry-level Italian class.  Going into my first class only knowing two or three words in Italian, I was happy to see how much my Spanish knowledge helped me.  While there are huge differences between the languages there are also many similarities that made learning the grammatical structure much easier, as it already seemed familiar in some aspects.

The more I learned about the Italian language the more I learned about Italian culture.  Many cultural aspects were new to me and interesting to learn about in class, but fascinating to be able to participate in.  The university also had an Italian club, in addition to Italian classes, that held events to learn about cultural aspects such as learning to make a type of pasta from scratch, learning how to play an Italian card game, and much more.  This was very intimidating at first as trying to learn a new skill in a new language can be very difficult and frustrating, but it quickly began to feel less intimidating.  As I learned about Italian culture and differences between regions of Italy, I became more motivated to learn the language so that I could get a true sense of the beautiful and unique Italian culture.