News and Events.htm

News and Events ~ December 2011

President's Annual Message

The accomplishments of our group of 395 descendants from Craco in the past five years is amazing, but our ancestors would expect no less since they too accomplished so much.

An interesting observation from who join us when we’re meeting as a group, is how they notice the closeness that exists amongst us. Although we’re spread across a wide geography, when we gather for events, our feelings radiate and draws others in. The October Reunion clearly demonstrated that with members sharing fun and festivities for two days before crowding St. Joseph’s Church to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of the statue of San Vincenzo Martire. Throughout the event members shared feelings and surprises with each other that reinforced our connections. This event was yet another example of our efforts to fulfill our mission. By preserving the historic statue and placing a plaque on it that identifies San Vincenzo, for the first time, we are honoring our past.

Over the last two years in preparing for this event, research uncovered new information about our past. A revised edition of the Society publication, San Vincenzo Martire And the Crachesi in Two Worlds, will be issued shortly. Among the material discovered and preserved in this edition is a manuscript copy of Breve Storia del Comune di Craco e del Suo Protettore S. Vincenzo Martire, copied from a 1933 booklet that was probably the first publication about San Vincenzo and no longer exists.

During the year we made the information contained in Craco’s 1753 Catasti Onciari, available by creating an index of names in it. Members can now reach back for their ancestry to the earliest public records available.

We also added information about Cracotans entering the US before 1892 to our website with a list of individuals who came through the Castle Garden immigration station. This coincided with a series of articles listing the genealogy resources available to members through the Society. At the same time we highlighted a series of old photographs from Craco and America that showed school and community life.

Our efforts to preserve our heritage were recognized outside our group when the Basilicata Regional Authority granted us admission to their Commissione Regionale dei Lucani all’ estero (Commission of Lucani Abroad).

Looking forward to 2012 we will continue our efforts to preserve Cracotan culture and history by acting on the suggestions members provided. Projects preserving the dialect are underway (see below) along with evaluation of other recommendations that our members made.

We are also developing projects and programs for next year that will highlight and inform members about our connection to Basilicata.

Such work requires support, so I ask you for two things. Please be sure all your family members and Crachese friends are aware of the Society. Also, I ask that both you and them continue to participate in trips and events so our relationships keep growing.

On behalf of the Board of Directors I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous 2012.

President,

Joseph Rinaldi

Preserving our Past for the Future

Members expressed strong feelings about preserving Cracotan history for their children and grandchildren during the Reunion. There were 10 suggestions given during a session which are being evaluated by the Board of Directors.

One recommendation that is already being addressed is preserving the Cracotan dialect. A Society publication, "Parlë Crac’tan? A Guide to Speaking Cracotan" is now available on the website. Printed copies can be requested from the Society by contacting us at: memberserv-ices@thecracosociety.org.

The dialect is also highlighted in a section of the book with the history of the town, Note Storiche sul Comune di Craco. The Society’s English translation of the book provides the linguistic history along with proverbs, songs and passages of the dialect (see story below).

Suggestions of replacing the lost San Vincenzo statue are being researched as is considering renewing a procession as part of the feast day celebration. Also being evaluated are ways of capturing and preserving stories of Craco Vecchio.

As these are examined, it is important for members to promote the Society to their children and grandchildren, the audience that they felt was important to preserve the history of for and the reason they asked we take these projects on.

Crachesi Dialect

A primary source of information about the Crachesi dialect can be found in Note Storiche sul Comune di Craco. Following is the excerpt from the book about it:

Craco’s dialect is a language with structure and function. It serves as a spoken language and does not have a written tradition, though there are some old documents written in dialect.

The local dialects assume an importance equal to that of the national language (such as Neapolitan), as it is spoken by many and does not lack writers who use it in poetry and theater.

The Crachesi use their dialect to communicate between townspeople in the town offices, between students at school, at the market, etc. Rarely will one hear two Crachesi speak to one another in formal Italian.

Like the dialects of Pisticci or Bernalda, the dialect of Craco is one of many that are heard in the south of Italy that have origins in Greek and Latin, as well as some traces of French and Spanish. Latinization, promoted by the Via Appia, provides a consistent date of origin and characteristic impact.

The Crachese dialect also manifests pronunciation, if in just a few cases, in which a sound is altered under the influence of another sound that follows.

Sometimes, one will note the change of a word from the masculine to the feminine. Another characteristic of the Crache-e dialect, like many dialects of the Calabro-Sicula Region, is the indistinct pronunciation of the sounds at the end of a word, and in particular of the –ë.

The dialect, almost confined between the regions Apula and of the Appenninica, is therefore considered as native to this region.

The dialect of Craco has preserved some vestiges of a Greek influence because, it is thought, of the contact made during the Magna Grecia. Apart from typical characteristics of the southern dialects there are also numerous Greek characteristics in several words.

Other forms are derived from Latin, French and Spanish origins; it must be remembered that the Kingdom of Napoli was under the domain of the French during the Angevin period, and also under the Spanish.

The author, Dino D’Angella, also provides several pages of songs, riddles, proverbs, and biblical passages written n the dialect.

By clicking on the Crachese expression in the on-line version of the newsletter that is emailed to members, you are directed to the Google Translation website and by clicking on the "audio" icon in the lower right the phrase is pronounced for you so you can hear how it sounds.

Craco's Other Patron - San Nicola Vescovo

Although San Nicola is not important to the Cracotan Christmas tradition, he is recognized worldwide as the basis for Santa Claus. In their great wisdom, the Crachesi not only adopted San Vincenzo as a patron, but also kept San Nicola Vescovo (Bishop) as their patron, too.

The history of Craco, Note Storice sul Comune di Craco, tells us that the first patron saint of Craco was Santa Barbara. Veneration of her continued until the 13th century when San Nicola became popular throughout Italy, and was made the patron saint of Apulia and Sicily along with many cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

San Nicola was the Bishop of Myra, a city on the Turkish seacoast. In the 4th century, after his death, his tomb became a popular Christian pilgrimage site. When Myra came under Islamic rule sailors from Bari Italy took his body to their home port in 1087. Once there a crypt and ultimately a Basilicata was built for him by the mid-12th century.

In Craco, the Church of San Nicola Vescovo (Chiesa Madre) measured 48 ft. at its maximum width and 90 ft. at the maximum length. It was erected in three different stages: the main section in the thirteenth century, an additional section in the sixteenth century, and in the eighteenth century the dome and some additional windows were added. The interior was restored in the 1800s and decorated on the initiative of Archpriests Molfese and Giannone, with paintings of the Neapolitan school.

The church contained a mixture of styles: a bit Romanesque with a facade that does not have a cornice and some classic Byzantine domes that suggests a presence of the Greek Empire in the area. It was restored several times: late in the eighteenth century, just after the unification of Italy, and again in 1903. The church was maintained, until the 1970s. With the relocation of the church to Craco Peschiera the statues, including the one of San Nicola, (shown top left) were moved to the new location.

Although most of the non-orthodox Christian countries celebrate his feast on December 6th the feast day for San Nicola in Craco is held on the second Saturday in August.

However, he was not entirely absent from the Craco Christmas celebrations. During the week be-fore Christmas, the kitchens in Craco were busy making seasonal specialties including cartellate (crisp pinwheel pastries) sometimes called the "dahlias of San Nicola" be-ause of their color and shape and their association with the nuns of the hospice for pilgrims of Saint Nicholas of Bari.

And of course, on Christmas Eve, families gathered to eat baccala (dried salted cod) and other seafood, then attend midnight Mass at La Chiesa Madre—the Church of San Nicola.

More information about San Nicola can be found at the St. Nicholas Center website which includes listings and photographs of La Chiesa Madre and Chiesa di San Nicola Vescovo in Craco.

The Board of Directors of The Craco Society would like to wish our members and friends a Blessed Christmas, and a Happy & Healthy New Year!

Click here to view A Year in Craco. Events in Craco for every month are listed. Thank you to Joe Rinaldi in Canada for his contribution to this page.

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