Home | Valente and DiRenzo Family History - From Our Correspondent in Geneva (Angelo Abiuso)

Market Day in Gambatesa

This is one of the last old ladies in black (i.e. in traditional mourning dress) in Gambatesa. (The white trucks brought things for sale to the market day in Largo della Madonna.)

Woman in Mourning Dress

There used to be very strict rules in the past for the number of years someone was to mourn (and dress in black as a sign of this). For a parent it was 3 years; for a spouse: the rest of your life (usually widows did not get married again); for a brother or sister: 1-1/2 or 2 years; for a child 3 or 4 years. But now those customs belong to the past, and even very elderly women in Gambatesa no longer observe those rules; the woman in the photograph is the rare exception.

Old woman in mourning dress, 40 KB

I took photographs of all the handmade things made out of wood for sale. The man sitting with the handmade wooden objects is the man who made them; he sells them. I bought the smallest barrel on the big one. People put wine or vinegar in it; it's better for the vinegar because the vinegar takes the taste of the wood. But I have also seen people put water in the two smallest barrels.

Handmade Wooden Goods and their Maker

Wooden goods at the Gambatesa Market Day, 28 KB

Wooden goods maker, 33 KB

Photographs by Angelo Abiuso, August-July 2009-2010 at 11:36 - 11:53 hrs.

The URL of this Web page: https://www.roangelo.net/valente/donnaner.html
Last revised: 4 March 2012 : 2012-03-04 by Robert [Wesley] Angelo.

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