Sicilians

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Sicilians

ETHNONYM: Siciliani

Orientation

Identification. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The name derives from the Sicels, a people who settled Sicily in prehistoric times. Currently a semiautonomous region of the Republic of Italy, Sicily, for administrative functions, also includes adjacent minor islands.

Location. Sicily is located at the center of the Mediterranean, between 36° and 38° N and 12° and 15° E. Triangular-shaped, the island has an area of 25,500 square kilometers. Only 144 kilometers from Tunisia in North Africa, Sicily has historically been a bridge between Africa and Europe, and Between the eastern and western Mediterranean. The island is separated from the Italian mainland to the northeast by the Strait of Messina. Sicily is mainly mountainous and hilly. On the east coast, Mount Etna, an active volcano, is Sicily's highest peak. The largest lowland, the Plain of Catania, is located nearby. Other lowlands are also located along the coasts. Much of the topography in the interior consists of rugged, deforested hills. Sicily has a typical Mediterranean climate of moderate, wet winters and hot, dry summers; the lack of Summer rain, together with insufficient irrigation, has profoundly affected agriculture.

Demography. With an estimated population of slightly more than 5 million in 1987, Sicily contained somewhat less than one-tenth of the population of Italy. Emigration Because of lack of work has depopulated the interior, whose towns and villages are composed mainly of the very young and the very old. The movement of people has proceeded from the interior to the coastal cities and from the island overseas. Waves of emigration from the island have been occurring for at least a century, initially to destinations such as the United States, and more recently to industrialized areas of northern Italy and Europe.

Linguistic Affiliation. The native language of most Sicilians is a Romance language, derived mainly from Latin. The vocabulary includes many words borrowed from Arabic and from other cultures that influenced Sicily. Although often classified as a southern Italian dialect, the local language is usually mutually unintelligible with the national language. As a result of the past isolation of towns, noticeable differences in local vocabulary and pronunciation still persist and are important social markers to Sicilians. Owing to the influence of television, the school system, and other unifying phenomena, most Sicilians, particularly the younger people, are bilingual in their native language and in the national language of Italy.

History and Cultural Relations

Sicily's geographic position and formerly rich agricultural resources have made it a crossroads of cultures. For most of its long history, Sicily has been subject to foreign rule. The Island was first populated perhaps before 20,000 b.c. Notable among the various groups of early colonizers and settlers were the Greeks, who arrived in the eighth century b.c. Sicily subsequently became the first province of Rome, which it served as a producer of wheat. The Romans introduced latifundia, large estates owned by absentee landlords and farmed by a subject population. This method of organizing agriculture, in which those who actually work the land are separated from the owners through chains of middlemen or brokers, has been a feature of Sicily for much of its history and indeed persisted until fairly recently. Colonizers and settlers subsequent to the Romans include Byzantine Greeks in the sixth century a.d. and Muslims from North Africa, who ruled Sicily for approximately 200 years beginning in the ninth century. The Conquest of the island by the Norman French in the eleventh century inaugurated a new pattern of rulers from northern and western Europe. Under the Normans and in the ensuing period, Sicily had a culture unique in Europe, based on a mixture of northwestern European, Arabic, and Byzantine elements. The island experienced a period of strong local rule under Emperor Frederick II in the thirteenth century. At the end of the thirteenth century, while Sicily was controlled by the Angevins of France, Sicilians rebelled in the Sicilian Vespers. However, this uprising resulted in a centuries-long period of rule by dynasties of Spain. Throughout the following centuries, while a representative of the foreign ruler nominally held authority, power was in fact exercised for the most part by the local nobility, the large landowners of the island. In the nineteenth century, Sicily was ruled from the Italian mainland by the Bourbon dynasty based in Naples, in a state called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. During the movement for national Italian unification, the Italian military hero Garibaldi joined Sicily to the mainland; in 1861, Sicily became part of the newly constituted kingdom of Italy whose ruling dynasty was the House of Savoy, based in Turin. In 1946 special autonomous status was granted by the government of Italy to the region of Sicily to appease a separatist movement that had been active at the end of World War II. Italy became a republic after World War II and is a member of the European Community.

Settlements

The capital of Sicily, Palermo, and other major cities such as Catania, Messina, Syracuse, and Agrigento are located along the coasts, which are the most densely populated areas of Sicily. In the interior, nucleated settlement patterns leave the countryside largely uninhabited. A typical Sicilian interior town is situated on a hilltop. The urban orientation is also reflected in the importance in every town of a large square or piazza, the center of the community's formal representation. Typically located in the piazza are the main church, the town hall, commercial institutions, and coffee bars. Often emerging from the piazza is the street on which Sicilians take their ritual stroll on Sundays, feast days, or in the evenings. This promenade (passeggiata ) is an expression of the gregariousness of the people, their enjoyment in creating theater and in observing each other. Outside the main square, houses Directly adjoin one another in dense settlements. Traditional peasant homes, usually one or two rooms, contained people and animals. Wages from migration are used to modernize and enlarge homes by adding floors. A typical home today might consist of several stories, with one or two rooms to a floor. While the piazza and other formal spaces are in normal hours reserved for the activities of women, who, especially in small towns, live in semiseclusion and venture into public spaces only for specific purposes. A recent settlement pattern made possible by emigrant remittances tends toward suburbanization on formerly cultivated land.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The interior economy is based on extensive dry agriculture, whereas more profitable irrigated agriculture and industries are located along the coast. Wheat has long been the major crop of Interior Sicily. Herding of sheep and goats, important in the past, has declined. Other significant agricultural products are vines, olives, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and garden crops. Sicily is Italy's largest producer of citrus fruits. Fishing, especially for tuna and sardines, is important to the regional Economy. Industries based on petroleum are located in the southeast of the island. Other industries, such as those based on the transformation of agricultural and fishing products, are also located along the coasts. Services, retailing, and the public sector are major sources of employment. While Italy is one of the world's largest economic powers, Sicily and Southern Italy in general experience underdevelopment and unemployment. Migrant workers are now the most important export of Sicily, and their savings are crucial to the economy. Staples of the Sicilian diet are bread and pasta, olive oil, tomato sauce, vegetables and fruit, cheeses such as pecorino and ricotta, nuts, and wine. Meat has recently become a significant addition to the diet.

Industrial Arts. Trades connected with construction prosper. While several towns are still noted for the production of colorful ceramics, other artisanal activity has almost entirely disappeared because of the availability of inexpensive Imported consumer goods.

Trade. Stores and open-air markets are supplemented by itinerant tradesmen who ply their wares with characteristic cries through local streets on foot or by truck.

Division of Labor. Sicily has long had a rather rigid division of labor. Men have performed most agricultural work, with the exception of harvests, such as those of grapes and olives, in which the whole family participated. While women no longer spin, weave, or raise chickens, in the interior they still transform agricultural products for food, cook, maintain the home, and raise children. In the larger towns and cities, and as migrants, increasing numbers of women work outside the home.

Land Tenure. In the past, most land was held by an absentee-landlord class of the nobility and their successors in large estates, called latifundia or feudi. The majority of the population had access to land either as sharecroppers on short-term contracts or as wage laborers hired for the day (braccianti ). Following land redistributions, particularly in the post-World War II period, land is now more widely distributed among the population. However, most families own only several hectares of land, often plots of poor quality, lacking irrigation, and dispersed in the countryside. As a result of emigration, much of the land is once again owned by absentee landlords.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The most important social unit is the nuclear family, the basis of self-identity and location in the community. The cultural concept of honor identifies loyalty to the family as the major social allegiance. Bilateral kin outside the nuclear family may share in a corporate reputation. Relations of spiritual kinship established during baptism, marriage, or confirmation extend alliances beyond the nuclear family.

Kinship Terminology. Kin classification follows the Eskimo system.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Sicilians consider marriage socially necessary to attain full status as an adult. The most important achievement in the lives of parents is to establish their children in good marriages. Traditionally, people tended to marry within the town, although current patterns of mobility have been altering this situation. People still marry within their social class. Although legal, divorce is infrequent.

Domestic Unit. The ideal domestic unit is the married couple and children living independently as a viable Economic and social unit. It is also common for parents, in remodeling their home, to build separate floors for their married children. In a recent domestic pattern, parents working abroad send their children back to Sicily to live with grandparents so as to maintain the children's cultural identity.

Inheritance. Partible inheritance is traditional. Women have been more likely to receive a larger share of their Inheritance at the time of marriage, as a dowry in the form of a trousseau of embroidered and lace white wear and household goods, or money, and possibly a house. Men usually received land and agricultural implements, and possibly a house, either at marriage or at the death of their parents. As part of their rapidly increasing integration into a market economy, many families now favor education for their children as a form of inheritance.

Socialization. As children mature, they are taught to subject their wishes to the interests of the family. The Catholic church is an important agent of socialization, as is education. Most Sicilians now complete high school. Older generations have lost some of their authority to adolescent peer groups.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Sicily has long had a stratified social system. A small minority of the population controls material resources and the allocation of employment. The most salient factor in the lives of the majority of the population is lack of work. Most families pool earnings from agriculture, salaries, and wage labor, or emigrate in an attempt to better their condition. Recently, even some working-class families are turning to university education as a means of economic advancement.

Political Organization. Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy with an elected parliament, which elects a cabinet and president. The island is divided into provinces and communes, which are the local administrative units. Communes hold elections for mayor and other administrative officials. The political parties control access to a large percentage of employment possibilities and to other necessities of life. Formal political authority lies almost exclusively in the hands of men.

Social Control. Police forces and the judiciary, as well as public opinion with its mechanisms of gossip and ridicule, help maintain order. In addition, the dependence of the majority of the population on assistance from those in control of resources in order to survive creates vertical patron-client ties, which exert pressure against challenging the status quo.

Conflict. Western Sicily in particular is known for the existence of associations engaging in violent activities, often called "mafia." The origins of this phenomenon are often attributed to the important role played by intermediaries Between the absentee large landowners and the dispossessed population, in the absence of other effective government. Organized crime has moved from its traditional rural base into urban, national, and international activities.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Christianity was introduced to the Island soon after the origin of the religion. Almost all Sicilians are Roman Catholic. Devotion to Mary in her maternal role is particularly strong, and she, as well as saints such as Joseph, Agatha, Anthony, Lucy, and Rosalia, are revered as intercessors. Many people engage in reciprocal exchange relations with these supernatural patrons, through vows that promise lighting of candles, participation in processions, or pilgrimages. Recently, Protestant denominations have been attracting converts.

Religious Practitioners. Roman Catholic priests are the major religious practitioners.

Ceremonies. Each town has a patron saint, whose feast day (festa ) is considered the most important local holiday, the symbol of town identity. As migrants return from the north, markets or fairs are held and public entertainment is offered. On this date and for major church feast days, images of the sacred figures are taken out of the church and carried through the streets to the people in lengthy processions. On 19 March in many communities, women make elaborate altars of food in their homes to honor Saint Joseph.

Arts. Traditional Sicilian arts included puppetry and Peasant carts brightly painted with historic scenes. Itinerant story-tellers also kept themes of chivalry and honor alive. Sicily is known for its elaborate pastries and sweets, formerly made in some places by convent nuns. Women still embroider and make fine lace linens not only to dower their daughters, but also for sale. Noted Sicilian writers include Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello, Giuseppe Tornasi di Lampedusa, and Leonardo Sciasela.

Medicine. Most Sicilians now have access to modern medical facilities. Folk healers may still be consulted by some People, often to supplement modern medicine.

Death and Afterlife. After death, the soul journeys to purgatory, and then to heaven or hell. In the funeral, the casket is carried through the town to the cemetery on a bed of rose petals. Periods of wearing black in mourning are rigidly prescribed by degree of relation to the deceased, and widows may wear mourning clothes for the rest of their lives as a symbol of family identity.