I don't remember the hour wait before going into the water. I remember them waiting with the towel AS SOON AS your feet left the water. Sometimes having to even use two so you don't catch cold.
Also, I do remember my Great Uncle not wanting to wash off the salt water after swimming in the ocean. He'd say it's great for your body. He's 86 maybe he knows something.


That's so sweet Oli that you sing the Nonni song too.

Lol I love that story Mark, that's hilarious. So Italian.

This thread is so cozy. Speaking of saying Madonna Mia...

Did anyone have the nervous Aunts and Grandmas? Where if there was a real emergency they'd be running around the room, pacing back and forth saying oh Madonna Mia or praying to some saint instead of helping the situation. That nervousness and anxiety can really take its toll on a person.

None of my Great Aunts drove except for just one. And they were the WORST back seat drivers. They didn't even know how to drive a car but they would point out what the men were doing right and doing wrong. Lol.

They were afraid of EVERYTHING.

If you were feeling poorly the treatment was "give him something to eat." If you had a stomach ache and couldn't eat, my mother would warm up olive oil and put it on her thumb and continuously make the sign of the cross with her thumb across my stomach all while repeatedly saying the Hail Mary.

Talk about being nervous, upset and pacing... don't forget they would always be holding their Rosary Beads and praying!

Madonna Mia!

A-Girl, I know what you mean about "nervous" relatives making doom/gloom out of every situation.

My mom didn't drive until she was 40ish but none of my aunts/great aunts and for sure my grandmothers never learned to drive.

The video I posted mentioned how Italian households had pictures of the Pope, Sinatra, etc. My grandmother had a huge picture of Moses (of all people) hanging on her bedroom wall. Thing is it was loosely hanging from the wall enough so it tilted forward. When we's spend the night we'd sleep in her bed and I always thought it was a little scary. Didn't want Moses to fall on me. Ha ha ha!!


TIS

Edit to add: Some of that tradition DID stick. I do have a couple crucifixes hanging in my house, along with a Pope Francis Holy card, palms from Palm Sunday. I have the holy cards from both my mom/dad's funeral mass which has their picture on it, on my dresser. I guess it does rub off to an extent.

Stomach ache take some coke. I mean coke soda and shack the fizz out of it.

Olive oil is the best thing since bullets.

Ginger Ale was the stomach ache drink in my house.




TIS

7Up at my Nona's house.

How many crosses of Jesus do you have in the house. I have too many.

I have two crosses


TIS

This is an east coast thing for sure. I knew 2 guys in the Navy, both Italian, one from NY and other from NJ and they swore by this, Foots.

One over every bed back in the day.

One item I was given after my parents passed away that I had to hang on the wall. That is a small plaque of "Our Lady of Trapani" which my parents bought when they visited Sicily. My father was born there. Very special to me and I had to hang it on the wall.



TIS

Who remembers the concave statute of Jesus face that would follow you as you walked across the room? Also, the wooden crucifix with a compartment that held a candle and palm?

Food was always the answer. How your mother prayed for you when you were sick is just so beautiful. So calming.

One of my grandfathers raced pigeons, you can't get much more Brooklyn Italian than that....

Except for my grandmother's white couches with the plastic covers

I will tell you one thing about Italians in Harlem in the old days. All the Italian mothers were prejudiced. God forbid a Puerto Rican girl called the house wanting to speak to her son

Everyone was prejudiced against everyone back then. I always believe that every individual has a life lesson to learn and my grandma certainly learned hers.

I was sitting on the couch at my aunts house waiting for these two nurses to come in to help my Great Aunt who had Alzheimer's. As soon as the door opened, in walked a black lady and a Puerta Rican lady. My grandma stood up went over to them, gave them both big hugs and told them she loved them. I was like huh uhwhat is happening here ??? My grandma who was ONCE prejudiced against anyone who wasn't Italian actually LEARNED that all races are made up of beautiful, wonderful people not just Italians. She learned her life lesson. Those two nurses took such great care of her sister.

My cousin who was born around 1950 wrote this when we were talking about growing up Italian on fb:

my cheeks are still black and blue from all the pinching they got from our aunts. never was in their houses more than 10 seconds before some food was put into my hands, even if i just finished a meal. no wonder i was always fat as a kid. was given red wine as a 4 year old and told that it was medicine. my swim suit was called trunks. i was always petrified of getting sick because the first treatment was always an enema. at birthday parties we would pack 35 people into a 9 X 11 kitchen. getting ashes on Ash Wednesday was the most important sacrament. anyone not italian was referred to as amerigan if they were white, if not they were moulignons. most women outside the family were either a gypsy or a putana or a sphacime. whenever a relative saw me as a small child they would say "oh, he's an Alfano." until i was about 12, i thought they were referring to me as some sort of dinasaur. favorite days of the week were wednesday and sunday because that's when we had macaroni for dinner.

How beautiful TIS. My friend's family comes from there too. I have my Great Grandma's gold stud earrings she brought over from Italy in 1909. She wore those everyday. My other Great Grandma brought over her mandolin from Italy with her in 1886 that's mine too and my Great Grandpa's bible from 1903 and right now I'm fighting with my cousin for my Great Uncle Tony's collection of swords and knives. I'm into antiques and heirlooms. Of course, all my parents stuff too

Yea A-Girl I cherish the few heirlooms I do have. My Uncle (dad's brother) who is 91 years old, gave my older brother my grandfather's Italian Navy uniform jacket. When I was there I put it on just because, I guess. I never knew him.

Story goes, that both my dad & uncle were in the army at the same time. My grandfather I'm told who constantly worried for them often said, "I just wanna live long enough to see my boys come home." My dad came home first and not sure how long after, my uncle came home. It was a matter of days after my uncle was home, that grandpa passed away from a massive heart attack at 52. My grandmother would always warn, be careful what you wish for.

Oh, and btw, that same grandmother wore black for the rest of her life, until she passed away some 35/40 yrs later.


TIS

TIS what a very sad story about your Grandpa and how he passed away so soon after his boys got home.


So true about how the women stay dressed in black for the rest of their lives.

I always REALLY ENJOY all your wonderful stories. Keep sharing them.

I had a recurring staff infection called cellulitis infection in my leg. All of a sudden you go from normal temperature to 104 or 5. You become freezing cold so all you want to do is stay under covers. You start to hallucinate. You don't want to leave the house so you won't go in an ambulance so they call the cops. You find yourself starting throwing punches at the cops. They have to cuff you to get you to the emergency room. When you get their you can't hold your water or anything else. So if your under wear was clean when you got there. That changed real fast.

There is no such thing as "Forgive and Forget" in the Italian male DNA.

You're not allowed to EVER throw food in the garbage. Never. It has to be eaten. You have to wait until everybody is either not paying attention or asleep and then you sneak outside to throw it away.

So, "Fuhgettaboutit" is not literal?

Not sure if this was only an Italian thing,(don't know anyone else who had one) but do any of you (ladies mostly) remember the mangle iron? A large contraption. My sister and I had to Iron mostly sheets on it. LOL





TIS

We had one of those. It may have been my Italian grandmother's originally, she had some sort of rooming house in the 1920s or 30s. I only saw it in use a few times, but my sense is that the roller could be pretty dangerous if you didn't know what you were doing? We also had a wringer washing machine - it was a big day when the automatic washer and dryer came to the house.

Oh yea, they were huge and could be dangerous. Looking back, my mom must have taught us well how to use it cause we were young when we were doing the ironing.

She too had the wringer washer. All laundry was in the basement and I think there was a clothes line down there too. Thank God, by the time I got married, automatic washers were the thing. I never used a wringer (I mom thought that was dangerous which I can see, if you get your hair caught- ouch!!)

TIS

Have you ever seen Nonna Paola? Have you ever had to teach an older person to use a phone or anything electronic? Well, then this video will make you laugh. I was cracking up. Her son scooches her but she's a good sport.

Nonna Paola

Siri And This Italian Grandma Don’t Get Along

http://youtu.be/dpFUdfxth6s

She seems like a sweet lady. Here is the longer vid from her own channel http://youtu.be/KWYfLChSZQg