For centuries wheat bread has been a constitutive and qualifying element of the aristocratic and peasant canteens of Sicily. A concrete outcome of a seasonal work cycle, bread was considered, food par excellence, sacred food. The gestures that preceded and accompanied their preparation and consumption were ritualized and imbued with meanings transcending the pure act of nutrition. Given the very strong symbolic value it holds, it is not surprising that offers and collective consumption of bread are still attested today in numerous religious festivals. The breads prepared on these occasions are not the everyday ones. They have peculiar morphologies and are prepared according to procedures aimed at highlighting the other dimension of the holiday time compared to the weekday. For this reason the different types of bread become an indispensable sign, a constitutive and functional element of each specific celebration. The festive bread, distributed, broken, eaten thus becomes, at the same time, a sign of a devotion, symbol of the community, an instrument of communication between men and between men and the celebrated Saint. The circulation and abundance of food, in fact, on the one hand reproduce and consolidate the chains of interpersonal and community alliances on the other hand convey meanings functionally linked to life and rebirth. This view of the world, typical of agro-pastoral civilizations, is especially visible in the ceremonies dedicated to Saint Joseph, whose characteristic elements are, precisely, the plastically worked loaves arranged on the "altars", the "tables" and the "tables" intended for to be ritually consumed by the "Holy Family", by the "Apostles", by the "Virgineddi", that is destined to be offered and shared with the representatives of that transcendent dimension from which cycles are believed to depend, beyond all human commitment, the cycles vitality and community welfare.

Il pane di frumento è stato per secoli elemento costitutivo e qualificante delle mense aristocratiche e contadine della Sicilia. Esito concreto di un ciclo stagionale di lavoro, il pane è stato considerato, il cibo per eccellenza, cibo sacro. I gesti che ne precedevano e accompagnavano la preparazione e il consumo erano ritualizzati e pregni di significati trascendenti il puro atto della nutrizione. Stante il fortissimo valore simbolico da esso detenuto non sorprende che offerte e consumi collettivi di pane siano tutt’oggi attestati in numerosissime feste religiose. I pani preparati in queste occasioni non sono quelli di tutti i giorni. Essi presentano peculiari morfologie e vengono preparati secondo procedure volte a rimarcare la dimensione altra del tempo festivo rispetto al feriale. Per tale ragione le diverse tipologie di pane divengono segno imprescindibile, elemento costitutivo e funzionale, di ciascuna specifica celebrazione. Il pane festivo, distribuito, spezzato, mangiato, diviene così, a un tempo, segno di una devozione, simbolo della comunità, strumento di comunicazione tra gli uomini e tra gli uomini e il Santo celebrato. La circolazione e l’abbondanza degli alimenti, infatti, da un lato riproducono e consolidano le catene di alleanze interpersonali e comunitarie dall’altro veicolano significati legati funzionalmente alla vita e alla rinascita. Tale visione del mondo, propria delle civiltà agro-pastorali, è specialmente visibile nelle cerimonie dedicate a San Giuseppe, i cui elementi caratterizzanti sono, appunto, i pani plasticamente lavorati disposti sugli “altari”, le “tavole” e le “mense” destinati ad essere ritualmente consumati dalla “Sacra Famiglia”, dagli “Apostoli”, dai Virgineddi, destinati cioè ad essere offerti e condivisi con i rappresentanti di quella dimensione trascendente da cui si ritiene dipendano, al di là di ogni impegno umano, i cicli vitali e il benessere comunitario.

Buttitta, I. (2019). Pani cerimoniali e tavole rituali in Sicilia. In I. Buttitta, S. Mannia (a cura di), Il sacro pasto: le tavole degli uomini e degli dèi (pp. 171-187). Palermo : Fondazione Ignazio Buttitta.

Pani cerimoniali e tavole rituali in Sicilia

Buttitta, I
2019-01-01

Abstract

For centuries wheat bread has been a constitutive and qualifying element of the aristocratic and peasant canteens of Sicily. A concrete outcome of a seasonal work cycle, bread was considered, food par excellence, sacred food. The gestures that preceded and accompanied their preparation and consumption were ritualized and imbued with meanings transcending the pure act of nutrition. Given the very strong symbolic value it holds, it is not surprising that offers and collective consumption of bread are still attested today in numerous religious festivals. The breads prepared on these occasions are not the everyday ones. They have peculiar morphologies and are prepared according to procedures aimed at highlighting the other dimension of the holiday time compared to the weekday. For this reason the different types of bread become an indispensable sign, a constitutive and functional element of each specific celebration. The festive bread, distributed, broken, eaten thus becomes, at the same time, a sign of a devotion, symbol of the community, an instrument of communication between men and between men and the celebrated Saint. The circulation and abundance of food, in fact, on the one hand reproduce and consolidate the chains of interpersonal and community alliances on the other hand convey meanings functionally linked to life and rebirth. This view of the world, typical of agro-pastoral civilizations, is especially visible in the ceremonies dedicated to Saint Joseph, whose characteristic elements are, precisely, the plastically worked loaves arranged on the "altars", the "tables" and the "tables" intended for to be ritually consumed by the "Holy Family", by the "Apostles", by the "Virgineddi", that is destined to be offered and shared with the representatives of that transcendent dimension from which cycles are believed to depend, beyond all human commitment, the cycles vitality and community welfare.
2019
Settore M-DEA/01 - Discipline Demoetnoantropologiche
978-88-98054-44-2
Buttitta, I. (2019). Pani cerimoniali e tavole rituali in Sicilia. In I. Buttitta, S. Mannia (a cura di), Il sacro pasto: le tavole degli uomini e degli dèi (pp. 171-187). Palermo : Fondazione Ignazio Buttitta.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/371174
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