FEAST OF THE DEAD. - The f. of the m. (2 November; for the liturgy, v. DEFUNTI, IV. IV. Commemoration of all the faithful departed) gives rise to a series of manifestations that attest to the very lively cult that the people nurture toward their own dead family members, and to the numerous, sometimes strange beliefs about the condition of the m. in the afterlife, and about their relations with the world of the living.
It is a very widely diffused belief that on that night the m. return to see again the places where they lived and to visit their own home. The imagination of the people sees these interminable processions of the souls of the departed, who, reciting rosaries and litanies, enter the city and assist at the "Mass of the m.": numerous are the legends of cases that happened to persons who found themselves witnessing such processions or Masses. In Friuli the peasants leave on the table a lighted lamp, the buckets full of water and a bit of bread on the table; in Lombardy the table laid, the fire lit and the chairs around the hearth, because on that night the m. feel the need to eat, drink, warm themselves. Also quite widespread is the custom that on those nights everyone rises very early from bed, to leave their place to the m.
Ritual food on that recurrence was beans: "According to the ancients the beans contained the souls of their departed: they were sacred to the m. Among the Romans they held the first place in funeral banquets" (Pitrè). Under the influence of Christianity the offering of beans to the m. was transformed into a charitable distribution to the poor: in relation to this it was the custom in Romagna and elsewhere to place at the corners of the streets tubs or other containers full of boiled chickpeas or lupins, from which anyone could draw. Now the "beans of the m." are, as a rule, replaced with sweets of the same name and of more or less similar shape. Besides beans, it is customary to eat in Lombardy "chickpeas with pork" and the "bread of the m.," which is also given in charity; in Abruzzo the ritual food was pizza with sardines and the girls would make a gift of it to their fiancés. In Apulia, as in Abruzzo, groups of young people go about begging "for the souls of the m." singing a song for the occasion. In Sicily the tradition of gifts to children was very widespread, as for the Befana: these gifts were called precisely "gifts of the m." because it was imagined that they were left by the m. on the windowsill and at the door of good children.
In Abruzzo it is believed that the m. can remain in their own homes from 2 November until Epiphany: during that period care is taken not to make the chain of the fireplace swing, so as not to wake the m. who sleep in the house. In Rome, for the Octave of the m., sacred representations took place in certain cemeteries (of the Consolazione, of S. Spirito in Sassia, etc.), which by means of wax statues or painted canvases evoked scenes of the Old and New Testament, or drew inspiration from themes for the occasion. The subjects varied each year and were reproduced in engravings and commented upon with Explanations in leaflets that were distributed to visitors. The custom, begun in 1763 by the Archconfraternity of the Orazione e Morte, lasted until 1849, and in the surrounding towns until the last decades of the nineteenth century. One of Pascoli's most moving lyrics, La tovaglia in the Canti di Castelvecchio, is inspired by the popular beliefs mentioned above.
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Paolo Toschi