Today is the day before Easter and Panicale is damp under a grey sunless sky. Nevertheless, the square is full of the joy of children's laughter as they play around the fountain and the air is full of excitement for the anticipation of this Happy festivity. Last night's processione put Italians and foreigners alike in a state of awe and meditation and today's pearliness seems to defer this transitory peaceful state.
Tomorrow is Easter Day, which will be mainly spent eating, sitting around the table and playing cards with grandparents and uncles who all join the family from afar and near.
Then.. Easter Monday – Panicale's great day of music and local specialties in the square. And what about the Ruzzolone? This ancient tradition of Etruscan origin not to be missed for anything in the World! This wacky competitive cheese rolling event takes place around the walls of the medieval town and the wheels of cheese are bowled along a specific path: the team who gets the wheel to the end of the path with less “throws” wins … the cheese! And if the cheese breaks open along the way, well then, everyone gets a piece!
This is one of those things that keeps me tied to this little hamlet in this green heart of Italy: the way the local people take these traditions so seriously – a simple game in a simple lifestyle a thousand times more rewarding than that of those who live their frenzy city lives doing all those vital things but forgetting the Essence of living. I'd like to quote Dostoyevsky here who says “The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.”
What better than to live for the joy of living?
Looking yet again out of my window I ponder on the more spiritual meaning of Easter and realize that what it means to me is the aspiration to Peace.
Wouldn't it be nice to stop being anti-politicians, anti-taxes, anti-poverty, anti- unemployment.... and just shift our energy into being pro-peace, pro- abundance, pro- prosperity and pro-creativity? If only we took this moment of crisis as a moment of challenge and in it found time to discover our talents of creation and love! If only we remembered that we are all one brotherhood and that we all need to be ok, in order to be ok! If we could just look into another person's eyes and see our own fears placed there - and with a simple smile melt all those worries, which have no other function than that of blinding us from the beauty which surrounds our lives.
I wish everyone a very Happy Easter!