Marianne Perry's Blog - Posts Tagged "grief"
WHAT ARE YOUR MOURNING TRADITIONS?
WHAT ARE YOUR MOURNING TRADITIONS?
Are the following Italian mourning traditions TRUE or FALSE?
1). Friends gave food to the family of the deceased.
2). Women wore black for a long time.
3). Mourners brought flowers to the church.
4). People spoke about the deceased during the funeral service.
5). Mourners laid a rose on the casket after it was lowered into the grave.
Does your family observe any of these traditions? Regardless of ancestry, I imagine at least one would be applicable.
An answer key is at the end of the blog.
Death is a timeless connection we share and a universal theme explored in The Inheritance. The novel is set in Calabria, southern Italy from 1897 to 1913. It is threaded with historical facts and mourning traditions help illustrate family dynamics, belief systems and the different social classes.
A WANDERING SOUL
In The Inheritance, Clorinda, a peasant girl from Cetraro, dies tragically. Her family cannot find her body and give her a proper burial. As a result, they believe her soul is doomed to wander the earth and never enter Heaven. Padre Valentine attempts to convince them otherwise prove futile. Superstition battled against religion in Calabrian society; a conflict this situation demonstrates.
Some Italians believed that burying a cherished possession with a loved one comforted them on their journey to Heaven. Did your family have any superstitious beliefs?
DO YOU VISIT YOUR FAMILY’S GRAVESITE?
Caterina is born into an inheritance of loss. Her mother dies at birth and she is raised by her father in a single-parent family. Chapter Sixteen of The Inheritance opens at the peasant cemetery in Cetraro where graves are marked with wooden crosses. Sixteen-year-old Caterina and a little girl are placing roses on the graves of family and friends who’d died long ago. As they do this, they recite their names out loud and express how everyone still mourns their deaths. Caterina puts the last rose on the grave of the mother she never knew and contemplates her wish to have a child someday.
This scene shows the profound grief felt despite the passing of years and though it occurs in 1913, the emotions revealed are timeless.
Do you place flowers on the grave of someone who died long ago?
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A FUNERAL PROCESSION?
In Chapter Twenty-Four of The Inheritance, a horse-drawn wagon carries Anna Marino’s casket to her gravesite; a procession led by her husband, Santo and Padre Valentine follows. Their sons, Benito, Caesare and Lorenzo along with Anna’s goddaughter, Francesca walk behind them.
Francesca’s inclusion speaks to the importance of a goddaughter in family dynamics and the inclusion of this mourning tradition helps build authenticity in The Inheritance. Walking processions were typical in the past and served as a precursor to the modern tradition of following the hearse in vehicles.
Do cars in your city stop and let a funeral procession pass as a sign of respect and compassion? They do in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
ANSWER KEY: THE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE.
How does your family mourn the loss of loved ones?
I’d welcome your comments.
Marianne Perry
Author of The Inheritance
http://www.marianneperry.ca
Writing inspired by genealogical research to solve family mysteries.
Are the following Italian mourning traditions TRUE or FALSE?
1). Friends gave food to the family of the deceased.
2). Women wore black for a long time.
3). Mourners brought flowers to the church.
4). People spoke about the deceased during the funeral service.
5). Mourners laid a rose on the casket after it was lowered into the grave.
Does your family observe any of these traditions? Regardless of ancestry, I imagine at least one would be applicable.
An answer key is at the end of the blog.
Death is a timeless connection we share and a universal theme explored in The Inheritance. The novel is set in Calabria, southern Italy from 1897 to 1913. It is threaded with historical facts and mourning traditions help illustrate family dynamics, belief systems and the different social classes.
A WANDERING SOUL
In The Inheritance, Clorinda, a peasant girl from Cetraro, dies tragically. Her family cannot find her body and give her a proper burial. As a result, they believe her soul is doomed to wander the earth and never enter Heaven. Padre Valentine attempts to convince them otherwise prove futile. Superstition battled against religion in Calabrian society; a conflict this situation demonstrates.
Some Italians believed that burying a cherished possession with a loved one comforted them on their journey to Heaven. Did your family have any superstitious beliefs?
DO YOU VISIT YOUR FAMILY’S GRAVESITE?
Caterina is born into an inheritance of loss. Her mother dies at birth and she is raised by her father in a single-parent family. Chapter Sixteen of The Inheritance opens at the peasant cemetery in Cetraro where graves are marked with wooden crosses. Sixteen-year-old Caterina and a little girl are placing roses on the graves of family and friends who’d died long ago. As they do this, they recite their names out loud and express how everyone still mourns their deaths. Caterina puts the last rose on the grave of the mother she never knew and contemplates her wish to have a child someday.
This scene shows the profound grief felt despite the passing of years and though it occurs in 1913, the emotions revealed are timeless.
Do you place flowers on the grave of someone who died long ago?
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A FUNERAL PROCESSION?
In Chapter Twenty-Four of The Inheritance, a horse-drawn wagon carries Anna Marino’s casket to her gravesite; a procession led by her husband, Santo and Padre Valentine follows. Their sons, Benito, Caesare and Lorenzo along with Anna’s goddaughter, Francesca walk behind them.
Francesca’s inclusion speaks to the importance of a goddaughter in family dynamics and the inclusion of this mourning tradition helps build authenticity in The Inheritance. Walking processions were typical in the past and served as a precursor to the modern tradition of following the hearse in vehicles.
Do cars in your city stop and let a funeral procession pass as a sign of respect and compassion? They do in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
ANSWER KEY: THE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE.
How does your family mourn the loss of loved ones?
I’d welcome your comments.
Marianne Perry
Author of The Inheritance
http://www.marianneperry.ca
Writing inspired by genealogical research to solve family mysteries.
What Is Your Sway? Book Review: The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens
What Is Your Sway? Book Review: The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens
There is sway in my review of this book. From a structural viewpoint, I rated it a 5; for plot, a 3.5; and artistry of language, a 5. I’ve assigned it an overall rating of 4.
Lori Lansens begins her novel with a compelling letter from Daniel’s father to his teenage son who is about to leave for college. He wants to share a horrific life-changing event that happened about 20 years ago; much of what he never revealed to his wife.
On his eighteenth birthday, the now-adult Wolf, decided to go to Angel’s Peak in the mountains overlooking Palm Springs and commit suicide. It was the one year anniversary of his friend Byrd’s accident. For reasons as of yet unexplained, we learn Wolf spent five days in the mountains during a brutally cold November with three strangers and, at the end of the ordeal, “not everyone survived.”
We learn Wolf’s mother died when he was little and his dad, whom he calls, Frankie, was in prison for vehicular homicide.
The family motto is “There will be sway” and we come to understand the meaning related to the rocking motion passengers experience in the tramcar as it approaches and passes the five towers on its ascent to the mountains.
At the conclusion of the letter, the reader is enthralled to continue and unravel the mysteries Lansens introduces in her opening. The remainder of the book is organized into chapters: Before, The First Day, The Second Day, The Third Day, The Fourth Day, The Fifth Day, and After.
As we know Wolf is in the mountains for five days and one person does not survive, suspense builds with each page.
Lansens reveals the stories of each character and threads them together. Her description of the mountain wilderness is excellent to the point I felt the cold wind pimple my arms and sensed there were vultures over my head! She explores issues such as sibling relationships, friendship, parent-child dynamics, spousal love, disappointment, lost dreams and grief.
Her phraseology is superb and the following exemplifies how a string of words describes the conflicts within a particular relationship. The sixty-something Nola says to her daughter, Bridget and Bridget’s daughter, Vonn that “…one of you is gas and the other flame.”
The time shifts from present to flashbacks and hints at the future. I must concede, however, that I was somewhat sceptical that the characters with their individual situations could survive in the mountains. A touch of the melodramatic contributed to my disbelief and, unfortunately, discredited the integrity of the tale. (Please note that I have omitted specific details for fear of “spoiling” the novel for those who have yet to read it.) This represented my major complaint with The Mountain Story.
By the time the novel ends, Lansens answers the questions raised in the letter and the reader senses a circle completed.
It becomes clear why “There will be sway” is the family motto. The adage resonates with the upheaval we all confront in life and, as a result, connects us intimately to the story.
We also learn the details underscoring Daniel’s birth; a surprise for many, I wage. I felt the story, however, was pulled together in haste and compared to the slow building mid-section; the final part was thin and too hurried. I also had issue with Bryd at the conclusion and felt his fate detracted from the quality of the novel.
I appreciated the names Lansens selected for her characters and felt they deepened our ties to them. For example, Byrd’s real name was “Byron” but given the nature of his accident, the subliminal reference to flight was clever. Also, Vonn referred to her mother by her first name, Bridget as did Wolf with his father, Frankie. This similarity hints at common ground and a future relationship. And finally, Wolf’s surname, “Truly” intimates why he decided to tell his son about this experience, expresses his values and the relationship he wants to have with his child.
And as a final note, Lansens has wonderful artistry with language and there were many quotes that caused me to reflect on both the novel and life in general. This quote is from The Fifth Day:
“Regrets. Sure, you think about regrets, but it’s not regret for the things you’ve done that occupy you as much as it is a longing for the things you’ll never have the chance to do.”
I do not regret reading The Mountain Story and despite some reservations, recommend it as a goodread.
Marianne Perry
There is sway in my review of this book. From a structural viewpoint, I rated it a 5; for plot, a 3.5; and artistry of language, a 5. I’ve assigned it an overall rating of 4.
Lori Lansens begins her novel with a compelling letter from Daniel’s father to his teenage son who is about to leave for college. He wants to share a horrific life-changing event that happened about 20 years ago; much of what he never revealed to his wife.
On his eighteenth birthday, the now-adult Wolf, decided to go to Angel’s Peak in the mountains overlooking Palm Springs and commit suicide. It was the one year anniversary of his friend Byrd’s accident. For reasons as of yet unexplained, we learn Wolf spent five days in the mountains during a brutally cold November with three strangers and, at the end of the ordeal, “not everyone survived.”
We learn Wolf’s mother died when he was little and his dad, whom he calls, Frankie, was in prison for vehicular homicide.
The family motto is “There will be sway” and we come to understand the meaning related to the rocking motion passengers experience in the tramcar as it approaches and passes the five towers on its ascent to the mountains.
At the conclusion of the letter, the reader is enthralled to continue and unravel the mysteries Lansens introduces in her opening. The remainder of the book is organized into chapters: Before, The First Day, The Second Day, The Third Day, The Fourth Day, The Fifth Day, and After.
As we know Wolf is in the mountains for five days and one person does not survive, suspense builds with each page.
Lansens reveals the stories of each character and threads them together. Her description of the mountain wilderness is excellent to the point I felt the cold wind pimple my arms and sensed there were vultures over my head! She explores issues such as sibling relationships, friendship, parent-child dynamics, spousal love, disappointment, lost dreams and grief.
Her phraseology is superb and the following exemplifies how a string of words describes the conflicts within a particular relationship. The sixty-something Nola says to her daughter, Bridget and Bridget’s daughter, Vonn that “…one of you is gas and the other flame.”
The time shifts from present to flashbacks and hints at the future. I must concede, however, that I was somewhat sceptical that the characters with their individual situations could survive in the mountains. A touch of the melodramatic contributed to my disbelief and, unfortunately, discredited the integrity of the tale. (Please note that I have omitted specific details for fear of “spoiling” the novel for those who have yet to read it.) This represented my major complaint with The Mountain Story.
By the time the novel ends, Lansens answers the questions raised in the letter and the reader senses a circle completed.
It becomes clear why “There will be sway” is the family motto. The adage resonates with the upheaval we all confront in life and, as a result, connects us intimately to the story.
We also learn the details underscoring Daniel’s birth; a surprise for many, I wage. I felt the story, however, was pulled together in haste and compared to the slow building mid-section; the final part was thin and too hurried. I also had issue with Bryd at the conclusion and felt his fate detracted from the quality of the novel.
I appreciated the names Lansens selected for her characters and felt they deepened our ties to them. For example, Byrd’s real name was “Byron” but given the nature of his accident, the subliminal reference to flight was clever. Also, Vonn referred to her mother by her first name, Bridget as did Wolf with his father, Frankie. This similarity hints at common ground and a future relationship. And finally, Wolf’s surname, “Truly” intimates why he decided to tell his son about this experience, expresses his values and the relationship he wants to have with his child.
And as a final note, Lansens has wonderful artistry with language and there were many quotes that caused me to reflect on both the novel and life in general. This quote is from The Fifth Day:
“Regrets. Sure, you think about regrets, but it’s not regret for the things you’ve done that occupy you as much as it is a longing for the things you’ll never have the chance to do.”
I do not regret reading The Mountain Story and despite some reservations, recommend it as a goodread.
Marianne Perry
