Author Archives: Maya Or

Italian Curse Words

Nationality: Italian
Age: 18
Occupation: Analytical Chemistry Research Major at Florida Institute of Technology
Residence: Melbourne, Florida
Performance Date: December 20th, 2010
Primary Language: Italian
Language: English, French

“Mortacci Tua “ (short form of “gli spregevoli defunti tuoi, della tua famiglia”)

/Mor TA chi too a/

“The contemptible your dead, your family”

“May your parents be damned for giving birth to you”

“Li mortacci tua is not very nice (Laughs out of embarrassment) it’s like…fuck you and your ancestors pretty much I mean you can say it between friends as kind of like screw you (jokingly) but it’s generally a swear word, an insult…. I don’t remember when and where I first heard it… but an example of the use is like when Stefania and I would play cards, she’d always win, I said it to her, in a good way”.

This past winter break, while interviewing my friend Flaminia for Italian folk items I could not help but notice how truly embarrassed she seemed to be while speaking about this swear, while I on the other hand did not understand the real meaning of how this is a curse since there is no literal translation to the word mortacci in English. So I turned to my friend Gianluca, who is much older than she is, and lives in Rome, asking for a better explanation. Here are his words:

“Mortacci Tua” means like “your dead parents”…. the meaning is “Your damn parents that let you to born…AHAHAHAH!! Really bad!!

An adult, 33 years old, had a very similar amount of embarrassment, so I realized that it is really considered one of the nastiest curses. Reading a bit about these swear words, I found that it is a typical Roman expression, but is also now used in other parts of Italy. I also discovered that it is considered illegal to use it, and a person caught saying it could receive is a fine by law. This nasty expression dates back to the 18th century and can be found in a few of the sonnets of the Italian poet Maria Gioachino Belli.

Joseph Maria Gioachino Belli was an Italian Poet who is known for being the voice of the people of Rome in the 19th century[1]

For example, Gianluca showed me this poem,

‘Non ha nient’altro a cui pensare questo Santo Padre,

Possano averne bene li mortacci sui,

E quella santa fregna di sua madre?’

And in English:

“He has nothing else to think about this Holy Father,

possano averne bene li mortacci sui , May as well damn his parents for letting him be born,

e quella santa fregna di sua madre? » And that holy cunt of his mother? ”

So, like most of the traditions I encountered during my time in Rome, Italy, it dates several hundred years back. I am not surprised that this is considered one of the worst curses that can be said to a person, considering Italian culture focuses mainly on family. And I must admit that this sense of family is a part of the Italian culture that I value very much. Teens become couples at a young age and stay together for years, sons and daughters leave home at a late age, and make sure to stay close to their families’ houses.  Due to such a strong sense of family, it seems appropriate that the worst thing one can do is insult a person’s family.

[1] “Giuseppe Gioachino Belli.” Andy’s Virtual Rome. Web. <http://roma.andreapollett.com/S8/roma-b1.htm>.

Mexican Holiday

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 29
Occupation: Dental Office Manager
Residence: Orange, CA
Performance Date: April 2ndm 2011
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“El Dia de Los Muertos”

/El Dee ya de Los M wer tos/

“The Day of the Dead”

“In Mexico we celebrate El Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Death). This is more of a holiday that focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2nd, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day (November 1st) and All Souls Day (November 2nd). Traditions connected with this holiday include building private altars, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these all these as gifts.

This is a traditional holiday that has been celebrated for many, many years. This tradition or holiday, however you’d like to call it, is taught at school, church and home; it’s more of a spiritual connection to remember the loved ones and to know the ones that we never met”.

Leslie told me that even though she was born in the USA she had heard about this holiday since she was little, however only witnessed it once, during a family visit to Mexico, and was fascinated by all the festivity and the ceremonies.

This certain Mexican Day of the Dead reminded me of the Italian “Il Giorno dei Morti” (also translates directly to “The Day of the Dead”) that I encountered when living in Rome. However, there is a difference, though the Italians visit the grave of their beloved with the same devotion as the Mexicans, the part that involves presents does not exist in their tradition. They bring nothing to the cemeteries other than the appropriate mourning items such as flowers and the likes. I tend to favor the much more warm and colorful Mexican way. In Judaism, my own religion, we do not have such a holiday, and we only have a gathering near the grave on the anniversary of the dead person day of death. At this time there is mainly a special form of prayer, and everyone picks a little stone and puts it on the grave. Flowers are not allowed by Jewish tradition, although unreligious people do put them. The reason for putting stones from my understanding is because they last longer than flowers, which eventually die and are removed from the grave. This Mexican holiday again makes me aware of the different approaches each religion has towards the dead, Judaism being the most solemn one so far.

Sephardic Jewish Seder

Nationality: Persian
Age: 18
Occupation: Human Performance Major at University of Southern California
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 19th, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Persian, Spanish

“So back in the day, the Jews were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh’s authority. Pharaoh made them build pyramids and would whip the Jews with whips. During Seder, we attack/smack each other with onions to remind us of the horrors the Jews had to face. My family is crazy though and buys leeks instead of onions and we freeze them so it hurts more when we beat each other hahaha. I’ve been doing it my whole life, ever since I remember. I like it because its fun but I hate it when it hurts hahaha (my cousins really hit me hard). I don’t feel an emotional attachment hahaha but it makes the holiday a little more real which is really the main purpose”

This is one of my favorite folk items because it shows the diversity that can occur within a major folk group, in this case the Jewish people. Within the Jewish community there considered to be two major groups of Jews, Sephardic and Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi describes those who have ancestors in Eastern Europe, and Sephardic describes those who have ancestors from Iran, Iraq, and all middle east countries, and since the actual word means “Spanish” I will assume that it describes those who were kicked out during the Spanish Inquisition time. When it comes to Passover, the differences between both groups are very visible. Each has their own Passover Seder traditions, this being one of the Sephardic ones. From my own knowledge I have heard that Sephardic Jews take celery and slightly beat each other on the back while chanting one of the Passover songs named “Dayenu”. From my conversation with Natalie it seems that her family is very passionate about this very tradition. Perhaps some of her older family members wanted to bring more meaning to the horrors that the Jewish slaves had to face, or perhaps they are all much more amused by the extremeness of their act. From my perspective it seems the Sephardic sect, during Passover, is much more intent on reenacting and experiencing the same experiences felt by Jews during those years in Slavery. I say this because I know another Sephardic tradition that does not exist in Ashkenazi Passover is to reenact the story of Moses taking the slaves out of Egypt from the burning bush to the crossing of the desert. However, although both groups are very separate, and perhaps for some there is sometimes a slight animosity between the two groups in Israel, I find that outside Israel the two groups have been combined when it comes to Passover and each family decides its own traditions according to its own family members which may involve both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish people.

Dartmouth College Festival

Nationality: Israeli
Age: 20
Occupation: Government Major at Dartmouth College
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: March 18th, 2011
Primary Language: Hebrew
Language: English, Italian, Hebrew

“Winter carnival: the ‘big’ weekend of winter term at Dartmouth. It is a weekend that centers on ski races and tradition. The Dartmouth alpine and Nordic ski teams host the carnival and compete against the other teams from the EISA (eastern intercollegiate ski association). They then celebrate their accomplishments at ski-team-only parties and special events. Non-skiers celebrate the weekend as well, in several ways: students build the traditional snow sculpture at the center of the Green; partake in the Polar Bear Swim (which entails taking a plunge into the frozen Occom Pond). Other events include the human dog sled race and the Carni Classic (a Nordic ski race which requires that participants dress in ‘flair’–ridiculous, colorful, tacky clothing).This year is the 100 year anniversary of this carnival. I love this weekend because of its many traditions and because it’s centered on celebrating a season that it usually tough to bear in Hanover, NH.”

I’ve spoken to my sister about this festival many times over the years since she first enrolled in Dartmouth College, and every time I notice the pride in her voice. She loves Dartmouth College and with it all of the traditions that come with being a student there. For obvious reasons, this festival could not occur in a southern California university such as USC. However it does make me think of the difference between the “tradition issues” of those two colleges and why it is much more celebrated in Dartmouth. In my opinion there are two main reasons, one of them being the amount of time each college has exited. Dartmouth was established in 1769, while USC only dates back to 1880.The other reason can be related to the difference between the East and the West coasts, the first one being a more “traditional” one by nature, especially the old ‘New England’ part, where Dartmouth is located. What attracts me about the weekend is how the non-skiers celebrate; I’ve seen pictures of snow sculpture and each year it gets more and more magnificent! At USC we have our football traditions, however, even though every football game is a massive celebration, there is no one specific weekend with activities oriented around celebrating the sport. I think that USC emphasizes football almost to an extreme, but we don’t celebrate the sport itself we solely celebrate our team’s talent. Perhaps these two traditions are not even comparable, as Dartmouth “Winter Carnival” is much above being about sport; it is rather about winter spirit in one of the coldest areas of the USA.

Dartmouth Winter Carnival is mentioned in a fairly known book about F Scot Fitzgerlad. Fitzgerald, F. Scott, Jackson R. Bryer, Alan Margolies, and Ruth Prigozy. F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Perspectives. Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 2000. 4-10. Print.

Yom Kippur Gesture

Nationality: Israeli
Age: 56
Occupation: Dentist
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: February 25h, 2011
Primary Language: Hebrew
Language: English

“For as long as I can remember myself, and during all the many years I’ve been living in Israel, Yom-Kippur was the day of strolling along the streets. It was such a strong tradition that not to do so used to look weird, and when young- made you unpopular. It was best seen during Yom-Kippur eve, immediately after the specific prayer was performed, as this was the time the streets were filled with both religious and non-religious people, since the religious ones will spend most of next day at the synagogues. As this holiest day is a day-without-cars in Israel, the strolling took place mainly on the roads but also on the pavements, and went on for hours. Because this day is a holiday, we all were very nicely dressed and strolled together with our best friends. One of the purposes was to meet as many friends as possible, and to chat with everyone we met, at least for a few minutes.

Looking back at all those years, I can see a few reasons for this tradition that I was not able to see then, mainly because one doesn’t ponder too much into traditions… I now believe that there two major reasons, of almost an opposite nature: the wish to be together on this most important day in the Jewish religion, and boredom, as there was not much to do in a day when the TV didn’t broadcast programs and cars were not allowed to drive. Still, as this tradition continues on these days, when there exists DVD players and play stations etc, there is a strong possibility that the first reason is actually the most genuine one. There are, of course, the common social reasons of to-see-and-be-seen, as everybody is there and maybe to get “fasting support” from all the other people whom fast on this holy day as well. “

Reading my mother’s description brought me years back to those Yom-Kippur days in Israel, which I liked very much. I remember the strolls, being allowed outside until late hours, as it was a “safe night”, like an adult, meeting everybody I wanted to meet (boys in particular) while looking pretty in white clothing coming from the Synagogue. To this was added the fact that I didn’t suffer from not eating since even if I was religious, I was under the age of 12, which meant I did not need to fast on this holy day yet. So for me it was all fun and joy, only for the social reasons.

For the kids especially it was fun because we also safely rode our bikes, it was a day when the whole city became our park and we can go wild (as wild as possible on a holy day). I remember the peer pressure of going to meet your friends and seeing who is allowed out the longest. I think the beauty of this tradition, and the reason why it goes on, is that for one day, everything of an “outside” or of “materialistic” nature stops. No cars, no television, your biggest problems seize for a day because it’s a day of repentance and asking for forgiveness. It’s a day marked by humbleness and a day marked by a new start. After this day, you begin with a clean slate, and so you walk the streets looking back at all the things that this time around you will do your best not to do again.