Ciao a tutti,
Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter) from Filippo and the Chef, (Chef Richard).
Artist Anthony Mancini from New York did it again with this great graphic he sent us for Easter as a greeting from him and his wife Grace and as a gift to not only us, but now to all our fans.
Grazie Tony and a Happy Easter to all.
Filippo
P.S. Growing up every year I would hear from my Mother and Grandmother how Easter, and Easter morning especially, was celebrated in the town in Italy in which they grew up. They would tell us that each town in Italy had their own tradition but that most of the traditional ways of celebrating the morning of Easter would involve Statues of Jesus and Mary being paraded through the streets.
In my Mother's particular town the two statues would start at separate ends of the town and then meet in the middle of the piazza in front of the main cathedral. The statues where then moved to animate them to express the joy Mary had in encountering her risen son.
This ritualistic procession is known as l'Incontro, or the Encounter. Every town did it differently. But you will get a good idea of the processions from the videos below.
This first video is quite unique, if you don't have time to see them all, I would recommend seeing at least this one.
See also the joy of the people when the procession is done. It is quite moving actually how the ritual helps the celebration be complete. (In Italian)
