Our Italian Tradition
It was Christmas Eve. I sat, huddled in a ball, behind the armchair in my living room. I was trying to be as still and patient as I could be. I remember moments where I held my breath thinking if she heard me breathe, she would leave and I would never get a chance to see her. I could feel myself drifting off to sleep, but I tried to resist. All I wanted was to see her just once. Usually, I would be scared at the thought of a witch, but she was different. She was a magical witch who flew on a broom from house top to house top, visiting children and filling their shoes with candy and chocolates. Sure enough, I awoke the next morning to find myself still huddled in the same ball; I had fallen asleep before La Befana arrived. As I stood up yawning, I took a big stretch and noticed my Christmas shoes lying by my feet full of goodies.
La Befana is the Italian version of America’s Santa Clause. In fact, the idea of Santa Clause stems from the legend of the La Befana. On the night that baby Jesus was born, the Three Wise Men stopped at her hut asking directions to Bethlehem, and invited her to go along with them but she refused. Later, a shepherd boy stopped to ask her for directions. He invited her to join him in his journey to Bethlehem, but again, she refused. Later that night she saw a large star in the sky and reconsidered going to look for the stable where baby Jesus lay. She wanted to bring him the toys of her child who had died. But she did not find the stable, and now each year she looks for baby Jesus. Since she can not find him, she leaves gifts for the good children of Italy, and coal for the bad ones.
The story of La Befana is just one of the m...
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...” (Myers 119). I have, for as long as I can remember, been aware of the cultural winds. With each Italian tradition that my family embraces, we are fighting the winds of a more mainstream tradition that seeks presence in our home. But I am glad that we have fought these winds. I am glad that I did not spend my Christmases in the same way that many other children did. I am glad that I believed that my Christmas presents were left by La Befana while all the other kids believed they had come only from Santa Clause. I believe that living in America is about embracing difference. My family forces me to embrace difference through our Italian traditions each Christmas, and it has taught me how beautiful and valuable difference can truly be. Buon Natale!
Works Cited
Myers, David. Psychology Seventh Edition in Modules. Holland, Michigan: Hope College, 2004.
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Cellular respiration is the method of breaking down organic molecules to release their stored energy. Plants and animals use cellular respiration to use energy. Aerobic respiration is the release of energy from glucose or another organic substrate in the presence of oxygen while anaerobic does not require oxygen. Cellular respiration takes place in the mitochondrion. The three phases of cellular respiration are glycolysis (fermentation), krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain. Carbon dioxide and water are products of the series of reactions involved in cellular respiration. Fermentation is one catabolic process that is a degradation of sugars that occurs without the use of oxygen (Campbell and Reece, 2008). These pathways help generate energy to fuel thousands of chemical tasks in a cell. Fermentation by yeast is used to make beer, wine and bake bread. This process is summarized by:
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Achebe stated that Conrad’s work was “an offensive and deplorable book.” I believe this view of Heart of Darkness to be true through his inhumane depiction of blacks throughout his novel. Conrad followed in the footsteps of infamous racist in figures, King Leopold II in particular for his barbaric treatment of Africans in the Congo. Achebe also accused Conrad of being “a thoroughgoing racist,” which I do not agree with. While I do think that Conrad certainly was a racist, he did not take that racism to the extremity that others, such as King Leopold II, did. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad made it clear that he was a racist, but did not carry that racism out to the fullest extent possible.
Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.” Massachusetts Review. W.M. Norton and Co. n.d. Web. 9 Dec.2010. .
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