It’s Capetièmpe in Abruzzo – that special time of year from all hallows eve for about twelve days when the kitchen table is laden with delicious food from harvest time and places set for both the living and the dead. When there are candles and bonfires of endings and renewal, picnics in cemeteries and masked children go to each house collecting treats from the laden tables to share with their poorer families.
Whether it’s called Capetièmpe, Samhaim, Halloween, Totenfest, Day of the Dead or other names in different countries or parts of Italy, it’s about remembering those from the past especially loved ones, honouring nature’s cycles and keeping in mind that time isn’t necessarily linear. It can also be a circle, an endless cycle of events, the sun and moon constantly rising and setting.
Dawn, day and night. Rain onto land, into rivers and the sea, then up into clouds again. In church frescoes, old photographs, recipes cooked over and again. The cypresses in so many cemeteries, planted because they represent eternity, endurance, resilience – reaching from the earth to sun and sky. Nature’s calendar always a part of life, whether in rural or urban places, modern or ancient times. Remembering and honouring who we’ve known, what we have and what may come. 🖤🌿
It’s taken months since Cyclone Alfred (in March) to see spiders in my garden again. I’m so pleased they’re back! It’s funny but the older I get, the more I find myself by chance doing things my nonni did, like taking more notice of what’s going on in the garden.
The elderly woman who lived here before me left behind a terracotta pot of crocus she’d planted. At the time, the plant just looked to me like thick grass, for I was very new to gardening then with much to learn (an ongoing process!)
I’m still trying to get through it and have lost being able to taste and smell, (devastating to someone who loves cooking!) but I’m hoping these will return in time – fingers crossed. And I also still hold hope for this fresh, new year.
Zoë Boccabella 