There’s Something About Mary - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 52

There's Something About Mary
I f you asked a group of average Americans to guess the biggest holiday of the year in Italy,
they would probably say “Christmas”. If you shook your head and invited your quiz con-
testants to guess again, they might say, somewhat more hesitantly, “Easter?” Nope. When
they'rereadytothrowinthetowel,yousay,“It'sAugust15 th !”Andtheystareatyoublankly
with quizzical looks.
Yes, it's August 15 th , known in Italy as ferragosto , when everything shuts down and Italians
all go on extended vacations. Construction companies stop work for several weeks, bank
clerks go off backpacking to Croatia, families load the youngsters in the car and head out
to their favorite beach resort to get as tan as possible before their vacation comes to an end.
(In case you're wondering, skin cancer hasn't been discovered yet in Tuscany; neither have
most food allergies, repetitive stress syndrome, or attention deficit disorders. But they are
waiting in the wings, courtesy of globalization and its discontents.)
The reason for the season is Assumption Day. It's the day when the Madonna died and was
assumed bodily up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Once upon a time, in pre-Re-
formation Europe, the Christian story did not end with the image of Christ upon the Cross.
The Crucifixion was a critical event along the way, but the story continued with Mary's
death,Christ'sreturntoherbedsidetoreceivehersoul,Mary'sascenttoheaven,and,finally,
her moment of Coronation as the Queen of Heaven, sitting alongside her son. Everywhere
throughout medieval Europe the cathedrals were built in honor of Mary, Our Lady, Notre
Dame. In the pinnacle of the façades, above the main entrances, over the high altars—the
images always exalted Mary and gave her a most privileged place within the cathedrals and
within the universe of Christendom.
Despite all of the images of Mary's Assumption into heaven, the Church was never entirely
comfortable with the theological implications of having Mary sitting up there right next to
God the Father and Jesus. After the Reformation and the counter-Reformation, Mary was
demoted to the role of surrogate mother. In Northern Europe her images were ruthlessly
smashed and her cult was suppressed. In North America it was a non-issue: the medieval
images of Mary's death and her Assumption and Coronation never made it across the wide
ocean.
In Italy, however, reverence for Mary survived the centuries of theological denigration. It
was sustained both by the artistic tradition as well as by popular practices. Even today the
countryside is still filled with little shrines that feature an image of the Madonna and a place