How Southern Italian Superstitions Mold Expat Life in Italy
Although Italy is the home-base for one of the largest religious figures in the world, southern Italian superstitions are alive and well. These superstitions mold the lives of Calabrians, their children and their grandchildren.
Oh, and the expats who live here.
Here are three of my favorite Calabrian superstitions I’ve learned as an expat in Italy.
Photo: GetPrice.Com
1. Friday the 17th
While people throughout America mark today-Friday the 13th-as a day of bad luck and gloom (and the day Jason refused to surrender to the masses who fought to end his reign of terror), Italians think nothing of it.
But catch them on Friday the 17th … and boy is that another story.
It is even more ominous if Friday the 17th falls in November, the month of the dead. Imagine their surprise when my husband and I tied the knot on Friday, November 17-risk takers that we are …
2. Toasting
On my first visit to Calabria … oh, seven years ago I made the costly mistake of toasting my husband’s friend who was drinking water. The table gasped and people started yelling-both at Mario and at me-for clinking glasses.
“It’s bad luck,” I was later told. “Something you should never do.”
Other southern Italian superstitions regarding toasting include:
- Not reaching across someone when you toast (or shake hands)
- Always making eye contact with the person you are toasting
3. The Evil Eye
Now that just sounds scary, doesn’t it?
The Calabrian evil eye, or malocchio as they say in Italian, is one of the most feared superstitions in the region and one of the most difficult for expats to fully grasp. It is so deeply rooted in the Calabrian psyche that outsiders, like me, make innocent blunders that result in our Calabrian counterparts pointing horns (like the UT sign) or grabbing their body parts to ward off the curse.
Possible situations include:
- Telling someone their baby is beautiful
- Passing by a funeral procession
- Mentioning the word die, dead or death
If someone is jealous of another person they can think evil thoughts and put the malocchio on them. To ward this off, many southern Italians wear the symbol of hands making the horns around their neck or keep an extra set of horns in their car … just in case.
For more on southern Italian superstitions, visit Italyville, Life in Italy,WhyGo Italy or a guest post on the Calabrian malocchio written by Bleeding Espresso and posted on my site, My Bella Vita.
What unusual superstitions have you come across as an expat?
Cherrye Moore is a freelance writer and B&B owner living in Calabria, Italy. In addition to Affordable Calling Cards, she writes about living and traveling in Calabria at her website, My Bella Vita.
Tags: Calabria, expat in italy, Getting Adjusted, Italy