Radici Siciliane

19/01/2025

Learning about this sacred space in Sicily with a local plant expert and mythology/medicine keeper. Details in comments!

19/01/2025

Writing immersion in Palermo!
Details in comments.

13/12/2024

Sicilian roots immersion 2025 www.radicisicilane.com

15/07/2024

10/07/2024

🥂🎉✨🥂🎉✨🥂🎉✨🥂✨
Buon compleanno to this stunning and brilliant and magical human 🥂🎉

Mariposa is an integral and deeply valuable part of every radici immersions — co-organizer, welcomer, translator, emotional support and offers her real and raw love and wisdom of all aspects of her culture (and heart) to us. She’s generous, known to work until the wee hours of the night (thanks for taking my kids clubbing!) and is open and vulnerable with our radici pilgrims in a way where she becomes trusted kin, best friends, she makes real relationships. She understands the bridge building and the true community meaning of this work. 🙏🏼 For this we are so grateful. And thank god for dear Francesco— who knew she was a treasure and brought her on in the mix. 💙 She has so many gifts and is also such a gift to this world.

Happy Birthday, Mariposa. You are so appreciated. May the island magic bless you in new ways this year. bon cumpliannu e ti benedica 💗🌸💗

08/07/2024

Botanico :: 🐍🌾🍇🫒

Some moments of one of our first days this year when shared with a sacred fumigation blend where she brings together the sacra trinità: wheat, vines and olive. 🌾🍇🫒
1 + 2: kara blending magic
3- the beautiful hands of .enchanted in the mix - what a blessing those hands are
4-group magic 🌀
5- and bringing their beautiful, potent friendship into the mix
6- the land the land the land that held us
7- using wheat to roll the incense blend around
8- our cypress circle
9- 💙
10- the gorgeous view from - which has hosted Botanico Sacro for three years now- and they feel like family 💙

06/07/2024

06/07/2024

06/07/2024

15/03/2024

The St. Joseph’s Table is a ritual meal, put on by Sicilians/ Sicilian-Americans.
The table is usually open door, open community. Many of the diaspora held them in garages, basements, or went to ones the churches put on.

Sicilian families brought their cultural ways during immigration. Sometimes the saints came with them as statues in trunks. Sometimes their connection to their old ways had to be held in their hearts. These folks saw their saints as patrons, allies, even friends — different from how they saw God- who was removed from them and in the sky. Saints were of the land.
They had personal relationships w/saints. And these relationships were sometimes intense (dunking the saint statue in water, burying the saint upside down, removing a part of it— and making a deal w the saint to answer the prayers). When a saint answered them, they had to give thanks in a real and physical way. That was what created the balance.

Saint Joseph table is done in thanks for the petitions answered- either personally or multi-generationally. People may do a table for a favor granted 100 years ago.

Some people say Christian Albanians fleeing invading Muslim Turks brought the idea of the table to Sicily. Other’s say there was a drought and people prayed to St. Joseph to end the drought. They made a deal, if it ended they would prepare a feast in his honor and and they would feed the poor with the feast.
One story goes: Sud Italians were exiled from their land by sea, and in despair they prayed to St. Joseph. If they lived, they promised to honor Joseph. When they got to land safely, the first table was made.
Another says: The people were starving and St. Joseph told the mothers to ‘spray their milk’ - make cheese from it. And this cheese was the beginning of the first table.

There are many tales on how this tradition was started — but the fact is— they are still alive and many people are re-committing to the saint veneration of their ancestors. The St. Joseph’s table is a way to reconnect to gratitude for good fortune, good health, to the old ways, to community, to seasonal food. Slides share a little more info……