Ferragosto
With Ferragosto (. Lat feriae Augusti = feast of Augustus) is in Italy the holiday called that on August 15 falls - the Catholic Church commits on that date the holiday of the Assumption . It is considered to be one of the most important religious and family holidays in Italy. August 15th is the hottest day of summer in Italy and thus marks the "turning point of summer".
history
origin
The holiday goes back to the first Roman emperor Augustus : On August 13, 14 and 15, 29 BC. After his victories over Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra at Actium and Alexandria, he celebrated a three-day triumph in Rome - officially for the conquest of Egypt. The anniversaries and later only August 15th were from then on in the whole Roman Empire holidays feriae Augusti .
Christianization
In the course of Christianization, a religious festival was set on this important national holiday - the Assumption of Mary .
20th century
During the fascist era under Benito Mussolini , Ferragosto developed into a travel day for the general population, including the lower-income groups. From the second half of the 1920s, special trains with reduced ticket prices to the sea or to the mountains were offered by various fascist organizations.
Meaning today
Italy
Today's Italians plan their vacation around this day, mostly in their own country, where it is cool: by the sea or in the mountains. That is why many Italians understand Ferragosto to mean the entire vacation they take around August 15th. This period is to be viewed almost like a state-ordered holiday season. Almost all administrative and economic life comes to a standstill.
You have to reckon with full beaches, long traffic jams, fully booked guest houses, hotels, restaurants and campsites. Consequently, Ferragosto also marks the center of the peak season. At no time is it more expensive, but also livelier and richer in events, than in the days around Ferragosto . There is celebrations everywhere and in many places the evening ends with fireworks at midnight. In the big cities and in places outside the holiday regions, on the other hand, it is to be expected that most shops, restaurants, theaters, cinemas, workshops, but also authorities will be closed.
Outside Italy
August 15th is also celebrated in Austria, Liechtenstein (also a national holiday), in parts of Germany, Switzerland and in many predominantly Catholic or Orthodox states such as Belgium, France, Spain, Croatia, predominantly Catholic-Croatian areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Romania, Georgia (as Mariamoba on August 28th) and Cyprus are celebrated as the Assumption .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Marion Giebel : Augustus . 6th edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-499-50327-1 , p. 59 .
- ↑ What is Ferragosto? (English)