LA TRINACRIA - Sons of Sicily

S ONS
OF
S ICILY
L A T RINACRIA
A IUTO
DECEMMIRU
P RESIDENT ’ S M ESSAGE
— J OE Z AMBATARO
Fratelli,
Our November meeting got the holiday season off to an
early start, with a nice turn out and a great meal. It is
amazing how that pasta e lenticche most of us dreaded as
kids has become such a special treat over the years.
Zoccu si schifia, veni tempu chi s'addisìa. So another big
thanks to the cooks for an outstanding dinner.
Hopefully everyone’s holiday plans include our annual Christmas party on December 11th. Bob Scaletta is working with the Women's Auxiliary to plan nice holiday
event. Also, our Children’s Christmas party is December 5th. We’ll have pizza ,
trains, activities, and a visit from Santa for all kids 12 and under. If you plan on
attending either event, please be sure to call Bob or Mike so we can get a good
count, and to make sure Santa doesn’t disappoint anyone.
The dates for our first events of the new year have been set, Crab Feeds are scheduled for January 23rd and February 20th. So spread the word with family and
friends, but make your plans soon because these events are always early sell-outs.
I want to wish everyone a healthy, safe, and wonderful holiday season. I look forward to seeing you all on the 11th.
C ALENDAR OF
E VENTS :
December 5
Children’s
Christmas Party
December 11
Christmas Party
January 4
Regular Meeting
January 23
Crab Feed
February 1
Male Guest
Night
I NSIDE THIS ISSUE :
T HE S ICILIAN
L ANGUAGE
2
S PONSORS
3
R ECIPE OF THE
M ONTH
4
D ID YOU K NOW ?
4
Pri li fimmini e lu vinu l'omu perdi lu
giudiziu.
H EALTH &
W ELFARE
5
Eng. Man loses his good judgment over women and
wine.
S OCIAL E VENTS
5
Buon Natale a tutti,
Joe
Sicilian Word
of the Month
2009
giudiziu n.m. Judgment, good sense.
P AGE 2
L A T RINACRIA
T HE S ICILIAN L ANGUAGE —C ULTURE & L ANGUAGE
“ S ICILIAN IS
ALSO COLORED
WITH A RICH
RANGE OF
METAPHORS
AND PROVERBS
COMING FROM
DIFFERENT
CULTURES . ”
Accustomed for centuries to the presence of innumerable foreign languages and cultures,
Sicilians have absorbed such a myriad of uniquely blended traits, that writer Gesualdo
Bufalino believed Sicilians suffered from an “excess of identity”, whose core is the extravagant belief that the world turns around Sicilian culture.
The grammatical structure of Sicilian is somewhat different from standard Italian: the
future tense is always absent and it’s replaced by expressions like “I have to do something”. The simple past (a literary form in standard Italian) is used in place of past perfect
in everyday speech. Pronunciation is difficult, and it’s commonly claimed that only Sicilians can pronounce the double “d” regularly replacing the standard Italian double “l” (as
in the typical exclamation “Bedda Matri!” commonly used to express irritation).
Sicilian is also colored with a rich range of metaphors and proverbs coming from different cultures. The English saying “All things in moderation”, in Sicilian reads Nun essiri
duci sinno ti mancianu, nun essiri amaru sinno ti futtinu (Don’t be too sweet lest you be
eaten, don’t be too sour lest you be shunned). The Sicilian version of the English proverb
“Make the most of what you’ve got” is Camina chi pantofuli fino a quannu nun hai i scarpi
(Walk in your slippers until you find your shoes).
Sicilians are also known for their epithets, which are used as insults of varying gravity in a
range of situations. The more frequent and diffused Sicilian insult is figgh’i buttana (“son
of a bitch”, which is a serious offence, given the importance Sicilian attribute to their
mothers). If you consider someone careless or absent-minded, you refer to them as stunati; if there’s an excess of drink involved, it’s most likely that they’re scribbi di patata literally, taken over by the “spirit of the potato”, a reference to the distillation of some
alcoholic drink from that vegetable. If you want to curse someone, you refer to them as
having u mal’occhio (the evil eye), and if you really want to slander a Sicilian man, call
him arruso - meaning “homosexual” (serious offence jeering at the boasted sexual potency, exclusively female-oriented, of Sicilian men - or refer to him as cornuto (with
horns), meaning that he is a cuckold. While not an exclusively Sicilian insult, it suggests
the worst loss of honor a Sicilian man can face - so beware of the man at whom you direct it!
P AGE 3
L A T RINACRIA
L A T RINACRIA
P AGE 4
R ECIPIE OF THE M ONTH
C UDDUREDDI
ARE A CLASSIC
S ICILIAN
C HRISTMAS
COOKIE .
B ECAUSE
THEY
ARE FRIED ,
THEY ARE BEST
EATEN
IMMEDIATELY .
Cuddureddi di Ricotta
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 ½ cups ricotta (drained)
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon rum flavoring
Yield: About 2 - 3 dozen
1. Mix together flour, sugar, egg yolks, ricotta, orange zest, cinnamon and rum flavoring. Combine well.
2. This is a sticky dough. You can attempt to roll it, but the authentic Sicilian method is
to break off pieces (about one heaping tablespoon) and roll between the palms of the
hand into the shape and size of a finger.
3. Fry in generous amount of bubbling oil, a few pieces at a time. Turn once, remove
with slotted spoon and place to drain on paper towel.
4. Coat each piece on top with honey.
D ID Y OU K NOW ?
Christmas celebrations in Sicily begin in earnest on the 8th, when families traditionally
start decorating their homes for the festive season. While Christmas trees are now common, it was only during the 2nd World War, during the Allied occupation that they first
became popular.
A much more widespread custom is the nativity scene, invented, so they say, by Saint
Francis of Assisi. While popular all over Italy, Sicily is probably second only to Napoli in
the magnificence of its “Presepi”, which can be found in most homes and the vast majority
of churches. Another wonderful tradition that can be seen in many small towns, such as
Isnello and Collesano in the Madonie mountains, is the night of the Luminari on December 24th when large bonfires are lit to keep baby Jesus warm.
Gastronomically speaking, there is no one particular dish that all Sicilians eat at Christmas. However, serious eating begins on the evening of December 24th and continues for
24 hours. As might be expected in the land of cassata and cannoli, sweets and desserts
are of tantamount importance. The most traditional of these are buccellati, large round
biscuits filled with almonds, pistachios and dried fruits. Presents are opened after dinner
on Christmas Eve and huge family gatherings are considered par for the course.
If all that wasn’t enough, barely a week later it is time for another “cenone” (literally big
dinner) to celebrate the New Year. Traditionally lasagne is supposed to bring good luck,
but more and more people are now turning to the more Italian tradition of eating lentils,
which auger wealth. However, once more, what you eat is not so important – the essential thing is that there must be copious quantities and that at midnight a bottle or two of
spumante are chilled to perfection and ready to pop.
The final curtain comes down on Christmas on Epiphany on January 6th. Children jiggle
with excitement as they wait for the arrival of La Befana an ugly witch-like figure who
distributes sweets to children who have been good, and coal to those who have not.
L A T RINACRIA
P AGE 5
H EALTH AND W ELFARE —T OM E SPOSITO
(408)605-6871
tom_esposito@sbcglobal.net
I hope you’re all as well as can be.
The wife and mother of fellow members Sam Carnell Sr.and Sam Jr. had open heart surgery recently. Also, a good friend of the club, Mario Portale had heart valve replacement
surgery recently. May God bless and watch over each of them during their recovery.
Also, well wishes go out to Dominic Rinauro who is recovering from a fall and is rehabbing now, Tim Trivolia who is recovering from knee surgery, and Freddy Zambataro who
had hernia surgery and his appendix removed. We wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.
Please call me at 408-605-6871 if you would like me to share “any” health and welfare information in the newsletter.
I wish you and your families good health and happiness during the up coming holiday season.
May God bless you all.
Tom Esposito
S OCIAL E VENTS —B OB S CALET TA
(408)448-7247
wwbd2004@sbcglobal.net
Our Adult Christmas party will be on Friday December 11 at Napredak form 6pm to 10pm.
Dinner is scheduled for approximately 7pm and dancing after dinner. The Kids Christmas
party will be Saturday December 5th at Napredak Hall from 1pm to 4pm; Santa’s scheduled
to arrive at 3pm. We will have pizza and snacks available. Please call Mike Maltese or myself by November 30th if you plan to attend either event. Especially for the kids party we
need the age and gender of kids up to 12 yrs old you are bringing. Santa’s helpers aren’t
very good at guessing those things.
I’ve just about got all the data for the roster book and will start working with the printer
next week. We do have few members without an address and phone number. If anyone
can reach out to these members and get a good phone number that would be great. The
names are: Damon Birtola, Tommaso Canciamilla, and Joseph Ursino. You can email or
call me with the info. With a little help from our members and some luck we should have a
roster book soon.
Take care and God Bless,
Bob Scaletta
Sons of Sicily Board of Directors
President
Joe Zambataro - 408-559-0732
Vice-President
Mike Maltese - 408-972-4986
Secretary
Sal Falcone - 408-292-2221
Treasurer
Joe Zambataro - 408-629-1994
Financial Secretary
John Cortese - 408-238-0361
Sergeant at Arms
JamesTaormina - 408-267-7239
Membership
Vincent Falcone - 408-292-2221
Parliamentarian
Mark Taormina - 408-265-4822
Food Services
Steve Salciccia - 408-298-8700
Social Events
Bob Scaletta - 408-448-7247
Health & Welfare
Tom Esposito 408-605-6871
Advisor
Jon Taormina - 408-289-9488
N EXT M EETING — D ECEMBER 11 TH
Christmas Party
Guests $25
Women’s Auxiliary Members $15
RSVP by December 4th
Mike Maltese 972-4986
Bob Scaletta 448-7247
IMPORTANT REMINDER
If you plan on bringing a child
(12 and under) to the Children’s
Christmas party on December
5th, you must call Bob Scaletta
or Mike Maltese with the age
and sex of the child by the end
of the November. Please don’t
let Santa disappoint anyone!
A Couple Important Notes
If you would prefer to receive future editions of this newsletter electronically rather than through the mail, please
send an email with your name and badge number to :
VFalcone@sonsofsicily.com
If you have photos to share from any of our events during
2009, please send them to Bob Scaletta at
wwbd2004@sbcglobal.net
S ONS OF S ICILY
P.O. Box 6856
San Jose , CA 95150-6856
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