Almond sweets in the colours of birth, life and death; children at the door with candle stubs and a song. In the sixth part of our All Saints’ series, Chiara Gelmini explores traditions from Italy’s northeastern Adriatic coast and translates the Cantada dei Santi into English.
Allhelgona · Part 6
Ancient traditions from Italy’s northeastern Adriatic coast
Every year, around All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, bakeries across central and much of northern Italy fill their windows with fave dei morti, literally ”beans of the dead”: small, sweet biscuits traditionally made with almonds, sugar and egg whites, with many regional variations.
Their name recalls an ancient connection between broad beans and the world of the dead. In ancient Egypt, beans were surrounded by religious taboos, while the Romans associated them with the souls of the deceased and used them in funerary and commemorative rituals.
In Venice, Trieste and the surrounding area, including Muggia, these little almond sweets traditionally come in three colours, each representing a stage of human existence: white for birth, pink for life and brown for death. Usually flavoured with vanilla, rose or liqueur, and cocoa, they offer a rather delicious representation of the cycle of life.
“Usually flavoured with vanilla, rose or liqueur, and cocoa, they offer a rather delicious representation of the cycle of life.”
The Cantada dei Santi
But sweets are not the only local tradition marking this time of year.
In Muggia, a small seaside town just south of Trieste, a few kilometres from the Slovenian border, the evening of 31 October was traditionally celebrated with a rather peculiar form of trick-or-treating, long before Halloween became popular in Italy.
Groups of children would wander from door to door, carrying candle stubs or fishermen’s lanterns and singing in the local Istrian-Venetian dialect. They asked for the minela: a handful of walnuts, almonds, fruit or perhaps a few coins.
Those who gave were thanked with blessings and good wishes. Those who refused received a rather mischievous curse, before the children ran away!
“Those who gave were thanked with blessings and good wishes.”
The traditional song, known as the Cantada dei Santi, has been passed down in several versions. Here is one of them, followed by my English translation.
The original song
Siam venuti cari amici questa sera a ritrovarvi è una sera per augurarvi per noi altri tutti quanti. Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! Questa sera xe una sera che i fanciulli va cantando con un torso de candela: "La me daghi la minela". Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! Siora mia benedetta la se meti una man sul petto e quel altra in scarsela la me daghi la minela. Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! Benedeti 'sti piedini Che vien zo per 'sti scalini e ne porta pomi e susini per noi altri tuti quanti. Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! Se in 'sta casa xe una sposa Pregaremo el signor Idio Che el ghe mandi una fresca rosa Ogni ano un mas'cio e un fio. Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! (If gifts are received) E cussì ve ringraziemo casa nobile e cortesia un altro anno ritorneremo se ve piasi Gesù e Maria. Lode in cielo per tutti i Santi! (If gifts are refused) Tanti ciodi xe su'sta porta tanti diavoli che i ve porti!!! (And off they run!)
English translation
Translated by Chiara Gelmini.
We have come, dear friends, to visit you tonight. A night for good wishes, for all of us, every one. Praise to all Saints in heaven! Tonight is a night when children go singing with a candle stub in hand: "Please give me the minela!" Praise to all Saints in heaven! My dear blessed lady, put one hand on your heart, and the other in your pocket: please give me the minela. Praise to all Saints in heaven! Bless those little feet coming down these steps, bringing apples and plums for every one of us. Praise to all Saints in heaven! If there's a bride in this house, we'll pray to the Lord to send her a fresh rose, a baby boy, a child, each year. Praise to all Saints in heaven! (If gifts are received) And so we thank you, noble and gracious household. We'll return next year, if Jesus and Mary so wish. Praise to all Saints in heaven! (If gifts are refused) As many nails as there are on this door, may that many devils carry you away! (And off they run!)
Read more
Fave: Trieste’s traditional almond sweets – background and recipe from Discover Trieste.
David Di Paoli Paulovich: Tradizioni folcloriche musicali ai confini dell’Istria: i rituali di questua a Muggia (2015, in Italian, PDF). The section on the Cantada dei Santi begins on p. 574; the song version reproduced here appears on pp. 588–589.
Allhelgonaserien
Del 1: Musikens plats i sorgen – Sara Shamloo Ekblad
Del 2: Rekviem – Sofia Thoresdotter
Del 3: I sorgen blir åren en vägvisare – Soly Erlandsson
Del 4: Sorgens kristall – Sonia Engström
Del 5: Sorgen är den fläck – Sam Carlquist
Del 6: Sweets for the Dead, Songs for the Living – Chiara Gelmini
Also by Chiara Gelmini: Istria and the Price of Returning.
Chiara Gelmini is an Italian art writer, curator and interdisciplinary artist. With a background in visual and performing arts and aesthetics, she works across contemporary art, music, performance and cultural education. Her work is shaped by travel, cultural crossings and the porous thresholds between places, disciplines and artistic languages. Her writing explores the relationships between artworks, exhibition contexts and audiences, and art as a space for encounter. Read more articles by Chiara Gelmini.
