Do not go on top of the Asinelli Tower

Nationality: Italian
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 04/23/2021
Primary Language: Italian

Main piece:

M.P:So…I don’t actually know from who and when I got to know this thing, but everyone I know, even people that come to study in Bologna from abroad know this. So basically it is said that college students do not have for any reason go on top of the Asinelli Tower in Bologna before they get their degree or otherwise, they won’t graduate. Now, I don’t have any idea about the reason behind this belief or what kind of energy the tower has [laughs], thing is, everyone I know, me included, respect this tradition. 

Background:

My informant is a 23 years old girl who was born in Bologna, Italy, and who is now getting her master degree in archaeology and Egyptology at the city’s university, and who got her bachelor degree in anthropology and oriental studies 2 years ago always at Bologna’s Alma Mater Studiorum. This superstitious legend and folk belief came to her attention as soon as she started college, or maybe even before, when she was younger, but what makes it particularly interesting to her is that also people who are not originally from Bologna and come to study in the city from abroad get to know and follow this. Another thing that makes this belief exceptionally curious to her is that she is not an especially superstitious person; however, she has always -consciously or not- respected this tradition, and, until she won’t have concluded her studies, she won’t “for any reason go on top of that place”.

Context:

This is a well-known belief of my city, which, even if I am not a student at Bologna’s university, I got to know in time. My informant told me about this while we were chatting at a restaurant in the city center of Bologna.

Thoughts:

Various are the things that make this particular folk piece particularly compelling. 

First of all, it can be considered an intersection of belief, legend and superstition, and it’s possible to see how the three genres overlap and leak one into the other. Specifically, it is interesting to notice how the concept of aesthetic of belief is, in this example, perfectly encapsulated, it being the solid foundation on which the piece is established. My informant made it perfectly clear when stating that, despite not being particularly superstitious, she was convinced of its truthfulness because persuasively influenced by multiple sources from the most different backgrounds and identities. Moreover, this belief is somethings which unites a specific social and peer group, the one of the students who are currently attending university and, therefore, sharing the same life experience. 

What makes it even more interesting is that this tradition doesn’t unite only students attending Bologna’s university, but all those people who are currently attending a college, and this is due to two main reasons. First, if you are a college student in another city and you come to visit Bologna, you should follow, anyway, the tradition, because the belief is said to concern every person who is identifiable with the categorization of ‘university student’. Second, -and here comes the really curious part- every Italian city who as an Atheneum has a similar belief connected to itself. University students shouldn’t go on top of Pisa’s Tower or Turin’s Mole Antoneliana, they shouldn’t look at Minerva’s statue in Rome and Sanmartino’s Cristo Velato in Naples, and they shouldn’t visit Ferrara’s Castello Estense or cross Pavia University’s courtyard, or, otherwise, they won’t get their degree.  

The paradigm of Italian hand-gestures

Nationality: Italian
Age: 63
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 03/28/2021
Primary Language: Italian
Language: French, Spanish

Main piece:

Background:

P.S.: It happened to me countless times, when abroad or speaking with non-Italians citizens, to receive this gesture, articulated in senseless ways, as an answer to my “I am Italian”, and…I don’t know, it has always been for me quite funny, but irritating at the same time.

My informant was born in Belgium from Italian immigrants and spent the first years of his life in Mons, before moving to Italy. Even after his transferring, he continued to visit many times his native country, and he had occasion of traveling and visiting a lot of world’s countries both for business and pleasure during his lifetime. 

Context:

My informant talked about this piece -and then ‘performed’ it- in his living room.  

Thoughts:

I believe it is quite known that Italians gesticulate a lot with their hands while speaking, so much that they are told to ‘speak with their hands’. Many are, indeed, the natural hand and body gestures people from Italy use while communicating, and they represents, for the most part, a genuine and unconscious means of expression. 
This particular piece my informant presents probably is the most famous one, which is often erroneously practiced by non-Italian speakers without acknowledging its real significance. As a matter of fact, this particular hand-gesture is the most-commonly used one to imitate and make fun of Italians, and it’s usually accompanied by nonsense exclamations like “pizza, pasta and mafia”. In reality, this gesture expresses and signifies concepts like “what are you saying?”, “who?”, “when”, so it is basically used to physically ‘supplement’ questions.

“Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler”

Nationality: Italian
Age: 63
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 03/28/2021
Primary Language: Italian
Language: French, Spanish

Main piece:

“Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler”

Transliteration: 

Il faut: It’s necessary

tourner: to rotate

sept fois: seven times

sa langue: the tongue

dans sa bouche: inside the mouth

avant: before

de parler: speaking

Translation: Before saying something, you ought to think well about your words / Think before you speak

Background:

P.S.: My father used to tell this a lot…my aunt as well. There are similar sayings in Italian as well, but…hum I don’t know, my father sometimes just switched to French to make concepts more vivid.

My informant is my father, who was born in Belgium from Italian immigrants and who spent the first years of his life in Mons, before moving to Italy. Even after his transferring, he continued to visit many times each year his native country, also because much of his family still lived there. Since really young he was told many French proverbs, especially by his parents and by those family members who continued to live in Belgium.

Context:

My informant and other relatives of mine told me several times multiple French proverbs, and, in this particular case, we were in the informant’s living room.

Thoughts:

I believe each culture presents a similar proverb, which encourages everyone to think carefully about his or her own actions and words, as they could easily affect or, even, damage the other. At the same time, it invites people at thinking logically and reasoning reflectively on something before acting, as it often happens that impulsive behaviors or decisions are the ones a person can regrets the most.

This sort of saying has been a fundamental part of my up-bringing, it being repeatedly mentioned to me in multiple occasions by family members. 

Les Gilles de Binche

Nationality: Italian
Age: 63
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 03/28
Primary Language: Italian
Language: French, Spanish

Main piece:

I still remember the first and only time I have seen it. I don’t know this giant feathers, the chaos, the movements it’s…it’s quite fascinating, but also intimidating for a child of four years old I guess. They start to march like.

[gets up and starts imitating the movements of the performance and the rhythm played]

ts-mpa ts-mpa ts-mpa. 

[smiles] 

My father used to imitate them perfectly. 

I remember being astonished by this ritual. What they do is basically march, all dressed in costumes with the colors of the Belgian flag, so black, red and yellow, and wearing clogs and feathered hats. 

Then they start throwing oranges to the crowd, because, if I am not wrong, it is supposed to bring luck.

Background:

My informant is my father who was born in Belgium from Italian immigrants and who spent the first years of his life in Mons, before moving to Italy. Even after his transferring, he continued to visit many times each year his native country, also because much of his family still lived there. He remembers taking part as spectator to this festival when really young, this is why his memories are a bit confused. When recounting it, he really placed much emphasis on the sensorial impressions the performance gave him, so the sounds of the clogs, the music, the visual effects of the feathers and costumes. 

Moreover, being Belgium the place where he was born, he visibly has a certain degree of emotional attachment to the country and his infant memories.

Context:

He told me this story several times when asked about his first years of life in Belgium. This particular espied occurred in his living-room, while we were chatting over a coffee.

Thoughts:

Many are the Carnivals practiced around the world, but this surly is one of the most peculiar ones. There are various hypothesis on the origin of this festival; the more acclaimed one states that the carnival -despite the first textual references belonging to the end of the 18th century-traces its origins back to the second half of the 16th century, when Spain conquered Peru. As a matter of fact, it is said the costumes of the Gilles recall, in someway, some pieces of clothing of the Incas, and that the thrown the oranges symbolizes the Incan gold. This hypothesis can find resolution in the ‘lavish’ and majestic headgear made of ostrich feathers, but, as my informants points out at the end of his interview, different could be the reasons of the oranges’ thrown.

In fact, the reason why the oranges symbolize and bring luck could find an explanation in the fact that they were not a common fruit easily procurable in Belgium. In this way, especially in the past, they were synonym of prosperity and richness, as it meant that the country and, in auricular the city of Binche, could afford foreign product and, therefore, be quite wealthy. Consequently, oranges become an emblem, a magical object meant to homeopathically symbolize fortune and success. 

On the other side, it is interesting to notice the strong nationalistic and identity’s sentiment the Gilles symbolize. In fact, all the 800 dressed men who perform in the festival must have rigorously been residents in Binche for at least five years, the uniform they bear has the colors of the Belgian flag and the shoes they wear are typical of the geographical region in which Binche -and Belgium- is located.

-“Carnival of Binche.” Cultural Studies: Holidays Around the World, edited by Pearline Jaikumar, Omnigraphics, Inc., 6th edition, 2018. Credo Reference, https://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hfcwd/carnival_of_binche/0?institutionId=887.

-Alford, V. “Carnival at Binche.” Folklore, vol. 66, no. 3, 1955, pp. 352–357. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1258143.

-https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gille

Apelle figlio di Apollo

Nationality: Italian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bologna, Italy
Performance Date: 04/26/2021
Primary Language: Italian
Language: English

Main piece:

“Apelle figlio di Apollo fece una palla di pelle di pollo tutti i pesci vennero a galla per mangiare la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle figlio di Apollo”

Transliteration: 
Apelle son of Apollo made a ball of chicken’s skin. All the fishes came to the surface to eat the ball of chicken’s skin made by Apelle son of Apollo

[there is no real translation as also in Italian there isn’t a deeper sense expressed by the words, which have, as main purpose, the one of being musically rhythmic and twist your tongue]

Background:

L.L.: I remember when I was at school and there were literally contests between children [laughs]. Like during the break we would meet in the corridors and challenge each other on who was the best at performing tongue-twisters. And like, if you were faster or better at telling them, you would feel superior…you would feel super smart. Oh and, not to mention when you learnt a new one that your classmates didn’t know and so you got to teach them. That was a real satisfaction [laughs]

Context:

My informant performed this tongue-twister over a dinner, in which other friends were present, and, after the performance of the piece, we all started to practice other tongue-twister we learnt when younger

Thoughts:

Tongue-twisters surely are a fundamental piece of folk-speech, which is performed by children as well as adults. Usually they are learnt in young years of age, when, as my informant explains, they represent a sort of ‘exposition of intelligence’. 

In the case of Apelle figlio di Apollo, in fact, Italian kids would battle each other on who was the best at telling it, and, consequently, he or she would gain a feeling of supremacy on the other peers. 

Tongue-twisters as well are, therefore, definable as one of the many forms of rite of passage children use both to approach adulthood and to gain some sort of power inside of their social group.