Dear Readers,
Annually Easter Sunday seems to be a “floating” holiday.
Easter falls on March 23rd this year, but do you know why? I do not recall for sure but it had something to do with the moon. Let me refresh your memory and mine with this clip from my files: A fixed date for Easter has been one of the greatest disputes in history.
Early Christians celebrated Easter at the same time as the Jewish Passover feast because Christ’s death fell on the day of the feast of the Passover, 14th day of Nisan, the first day of the Jewish religious calendar, corresponding to March-April. The Jewish calendar consisted of 12 lunar months, or 354 days, with an extra month inserted periodically to bring it in line with the solar calendar.
Easter has not always been celebrated on Sunday. Early in the history of the church, a dispute arose between the Jewish and the Gentile Christians. Jewish Christians maintained that Easter should be observed, like Pesach (Hebrew word for Passover), on the 14th of Nisan - regardless of the day of the week upon which it fell.
Gentiles insisted that the holy day be marked on Sunday, since it was on the day of the week that the resurrection had occurred. The dispute persisted into the Fourth Century, the Western churches generally celebrating Easter on Sunday, and the Eastern churches following the Jewish tradition.
In 325 A.D., the Nicaean Council, convened by Emperor Constantine, declared that Easter should be observed by all on the same Sunday. But the problem was still not solved because of differences in the systems of chronology followed in various places. In addition, the Gregorian correction of the calendar in 1582 introduced further discrepancies.
Throughout Western Christendom, the corrected calendar is now universally accepted, and Easter is observed on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. In the East the calendar has not been brought into accord with the Gregorian reform, and the day of Easter seldom coincides with the Western date.
This year we will celebrate Easter on March 23 because it is the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. The name “Easter” was proposed by an Eight-Century historian, who is said to have derived it from Eastra, a Germanic Goddess of spring. In Italian, French and Spanish, the Grego-Latin title taken from Pesach, or Passover, is retained.
So Buona Pasqua to all, and a special “Buon Onomastico” (Name Day) to all the Gents in your life named Pasquale...
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Easter Bunny wisdom: 1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. 2. Everyone needs a friend who is all ears. 3. Let your happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
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Author Carolyn Fregulia’s book Italians of the Gold Country with its “abbondanza” of vintage photos and informative captions is sure to delight every Italian American who finds a copy in their Easter basket.
If like me you don’t want to wait on the Easter Bunny hopping down the lane to your house, order your own copy and discover nuggets of Italianità in California’s Gold Country that you never knew existed or read about when you studied California history in school. Among the first Italians to arrive in California were the miners 49ers.
Many of them were from Italy’s northern provinces and sent gold back to Italy to help fund the Italian Revolution, but they also raised funds for disaster relief such as the Sicilian earthquake and tidal wave of 1908. Amador County in California has Italian Connections that go way back to the 1880’s when almost every merchant known in Jackson, California was Italian; however, this information was unknown to me until I read C. Fregulia’s book “Italians of the Gold Country” published by Arcadia, but also available directly from the author: Carolyn Fregulia, P.O. Box 703, Jackson, CA 95642, 209-223-4201.
The book costs $19.99, plus $3.00 shipping. If you are up north try Hein and Company Bookstore on Main Street in Jackson. For five generations the author’s family has lived on a sprawling ranch outside of Jackson, California, working the land, farming, ranching and tending to the olive groves.
The author, whose cattle ranch off Clinton Road is still operational, has spent the last 20 years researching the Italian families who came to the foothills during the Gold Rush, many of whom poured in from Italy’s northern province. “Learning about the Italians who came here was a big part of my own family history and investigating it was something I worked on for a long time.
By the time the opportunity came up to write a book for Arcadia, it didn’t take long because the knowledge was already at my fingertips”, says the author. Fregulia’s book is loaded with more than 200 vintage images and includes the Amador (former Ben White Hotel) built by Bartolomeo Bianchetti in 1879.
The mining camp was experiencing a housing shortage and like many hotels in the Mother Lode, the Ben White Hotel took in permanent boarders. After the Gold Rush died off, Italians along with Eastern Europeans and people from England’s Cornish coast, continued to immigrate to Amador to work in the large mining operations, such as the Kennedy mine and Argonaut mine in Jackson, and the Eureka Mine in Sutter Creek.
During the Argonaut Mine disaster in 1922, dozens of the victims who lost their lives were Italian (most of whom are buried together in Jackson’s Catholic Cemetery.) Fregulia explained that the influx of Italians continued right up until 1942, when the mines were closed due to World War II. Many of the early pioneers who liked the climate decided to stay, opened a business and Americanized their names.
Hotelkeeper Lorenzo Bianchetti became known as Lawrence White, saloon owner Guglielmo Antonio Raggio was William A. Rogers, Joseph Miller, proprietor of Miller’s Station, was christened Giuseppe Molinari. Sutter Creek boardinghouse keeper Giovanni Fontana Rosa became John Fontenrose. American equivalents for Italian names were imposed.
Giacomo became James; Enrico, Henry; Bartolomeo, Albert. For women, Celestina became Stella; Adelaide, Ida; and Chiara, Clara. Many of the families in the Gold Country later had Bay Area connections. Angelo Rossi’s father owned the Angelo Rossi’s General Merchandise Store in Volcano, Amador County.
When, after the death of Angelo Sr., the mercantile was destroyed by fire the family moved to San Francisco. His youngest son and namesake Angelo J. Rossi, became S.F. president of Carbone and Manti florist firm and later was elected mayor of San Francisco (1931-1942) after being mentored for 19 years by mayor “Sunny Jim Rolph” whose theme song was “There are smiles that make you happy”.
Anthony Caminetti, born in Jackson in 1854, became the first native-born Californian to be elected to the U.S. Congress. He was the son of a Sicilian seafarer to whom education was of the utmost importance. Caminetti was sent to study in San Francisco at age 10. He later worked at a law office while attending the state university in Oakland.
Returning to Jackson, he studied law and passed the bar in 1877. The young attorney was elected Amador County district attorney and later to the state assembly, state senate, and to the U.S. Congress. Through the Caminetti Act of 1893, hydraulic mines were permitted to remain open if debris dams were constructed to prevent siltation of rivers.
He authored the bill making California’s Admission Day a state holiday and helped establish the Preston School of Industry and the Agricultural Station located between Jackson and Pine Grove, California.
The chapter on “women come to the Mother Lode” was very interesting and noted that many daughters of Italian immigrants chose teaching in the Amador County schools over marriage and that Arbina Cuneo, a public stenographer and Notary, in 1914 was the first woman candidate to run for public office in Amador County. Author Carolyn Fregulia’s book on the Italians of the California Gold Country is obviously a “labor of love” that you will love reading too.
Order your copy now and if your group is interested in a speaking-book signing event, give her a call (209) 223-4201 and if geography permits she will be there.
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
