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A
fascinating view of Calitri surrounded by fog |
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In
Calitri, on All Souls Day, it was customary to dole out to the
poor, who came calling from door to door, a small portion of boiled
kernels of corn. The origin of this tradition goes back to time
immemorial. |
Specifically,
this offering consisted of a ladle of maize or fava beans (since
maize was introduced in Europe only after the discovery of the
New World, the offering originally must have been chick peas or
beans).
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This
being said, one wonders how this connection between corn (or chick
peas or beans) and the soul of the dead came about. |
A
clue might be found in Robert Graves’ White Goddess, where
he explains how people in ancient times believed that the souls
of the dead were contained in the beans and therefore eating them
was taboo. |
Accordingly,
the slight digestive disturbance experienced after eating them
is to be understood as the suffering of the imprisoned souls struggling
to escape from their abdominal prison, and, as can be easily imagined,
this took the form of flatulence.
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The
Latin poet Ovid, discussing the goddess Cardea (whom he equates
with the goddess Carnea) states that the feast in her honor was
celebrated in Rome on June 1, and offerings of pork and beans
were made to her. |
After
referring to Roman mythology, Graves states that in the classical
era, beans were used to dispel witches and specters. |
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