Comare Leanne

The weather is still hit and miss here in Italy - today the sun is shining for the time being so I should not complain. Bel ragazzo and I have managed to play tourist this week, and we drove up to Altomonte which is a beautiful little hill top town north of Cosenza, about a 45 minute drive from us here in Malito. Sadly with no ADSL Internet connection I cannot post any photos, so I will not go into detail about the town until we get access to someones Internet...

Religious wise bel ragazzo's big day is tomorrow! As of tomorrow I shall be known as Comare Leanne. Bel ragazzo tells me it is a small town word and that people in the big cities do not really use it much, but it is the name given to a female who is the godmother or sponsor of someone. People also just use this word even if they are not 'religiously' related, like how we often call people 'Aunt' or 'Uncle' even if they are not related to us. (There is also another word for Godmother (madrina) and Godfather (padrino) but here they use comare for women or compare for men.)

So I told bel ragazzo he can also introduce me as his Comare Fidanzata! I think I will enjoy having this new title.

Now I must share with you a question that Carmen from The Pomegranate Blog asked me. (Sorry Carmen, hope you don't mind but it was so funny it made me laugh!) She wanted to know if the men walk behind the women in Calabria. Her friend that visited in the summer said that the men like to walk behind the women so they can keep an 'eye' on them, since they are so traditional.

I have to say that NO the men do not walk behind the women, or maybe some do so they can 'check them out' without being told off for purving! Maybe back in the days they men used to walk behind the women...not sure if anyone knows if this is true, but I have to say in this day and age in Calabria we all walk around together.