The Craco Society Anniversary
Marks Accomplishments
June
1 marks the Society’s 4th anniversary as a
non-profit corporation. Since our founding the
efforts of our members and volunteers have made
the history of Craco and its people accessible
to a wide audience. The list of accomplishments
is impressive:
·
A website providing historic information and
photographs about Craco
·
DVD preserving film images of Craco dating back
to 1929
·
English translation of
§
Note Storice sul Comune di Craco
§
Ommagio alla Stella
§
Cenni Storici di S. Vincenzo
§
San Vincenzo: un martire di Craco
·
Research and publication of information about
Craco historic documents and the Crachesi in
America.
And we’re not done yet!
Happy Anniversary!!
The Stemma of Craco
The “stemma” (town crest) of Craco has a long
history as would be expected for a town that is
1500 years old. Over that time several versions
have existed, but all contain the same elements:
three sheaves of wheat being held by an arm with
a hilltop in the background. While researching
material from Craco, several historic stemma
images surfaced.
On
the restored monastery in Craco Vecchio is a
relief that shows the stemma. The date of this
is unknown, but the monastery dates back to 1620
so it might represent the earliest form of the
stemma.
The Registro Contribuzione Fondiaria of 1807 has
what appears as a woodcut stamp on the last page
of the register showing the stemma image with
the Latin term, “Cracus Terre.”
Almost
100 years later we find a version of the stemma
appearing in America on the banner of the
Societá San Vincenzo Martire di Craco. The
banner dated 1900 also shows symbols related to
San Vincenzo including a sword (signifying a
warrior saint), a palm frond (a sign of
martyrdom) a chalice and a feathered helmet.
The banner hanging in the Craco Town Hall
(right) shows the modern version of the stemma
which traces its roots back to the relief on the
monastery. The banner has additional features
and portrays the bright colors of the sky and
land of Craco.
Internet searches yield unofficial and more
stylized images of the stemma. Although this
graphic version of the stemma does not include
the hills, it retains the key element: the arm
holding three sheaves of wheat.
Each Italian town has a stemma and more
information about the stemma for Craco’s
neighboring towns can be found on Lucania On
Line.
Additional Genealogy Resources
Besides the wealth of public documents and
records available from Craco and other sources
that are used in genealogy research, the Society
also holds material that is unique to aid
members researching their family history.
The English translation of history of the town,
Note Storiche sul Comune di Craco, can be
digitally searched for text and is useful to
identify stories or information about
individuals listed in it. Similar text searching
is also available for Ommagio alla Stella,
Cenni Storici di S. Vincenzo e Sua
Devozione a Craco, and San Vincenzo: un
martire di Craco. This capability has
uncovered information about ancestors that would
not be found in the typical vital records used
for genealogy.
Funeral registers from the wakes of four
Cracotans who died in New York between 1935-1963
hold the names and addresses of 339 Crachesi who
were living in the area at that time.
A family tree data base known as the “Craco
Ancestry Database” has been developed from
members’ contributions of their individual
family history information and is supplemented
with individual research by the Society as
requests for information have come in. The data
base contains 1143 individuals with a connection
to Craco. The list of these names is available
at The Craco Society GENEALOGY webpage.
5th Annual Crachesi Del Nord America Reunion
110th Anniversary of the Statue of
San Vincenzo
October 21-23, 2011
Brooklyn & Manhattan, NY
1937 Societá San Vincenzo Annual Banquet - This
scene of the head table at the May 3rd banquet
shows many of the same individuals shown
previously. The annual dinner and dance was
held at the Half Moon Hotel in Brooklyn for
several years.
Craco
Crest
While
researching the material on the various Craco
stemmas, the crest on the left surfaced. The
relief is on the restored monastery wall in
Craco Vecchio.
The significance of this crest is unknown but
may represent symbolism from Craco’s feudal era
or perhaps is connected to San Vincenzo.
Note the similarity of the helmet to the crest
on the banner of the Societá San Vincenzo
Martire di Craco). The monastery housed the
body of San Vincenzo until 1983.
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.
