***aw, no one-upping going on here.
:hug1:
Now if you really want to hear about guilt…go to an Irish-Italian-Catholic household.
***
I would be interested to hear that developed, as that is essentially what I grew up in. But the Italian side in my family was Alpine Italian, so maybe that’s different.
I will say that there were significant differences in the idea of what was sinful and what was not; more the emphasis, really. In my family, the Irish considered drunkenness and fighting and virtually savage “dirty tricks” just “good, clean fun”, even among family, but were deadly when it came to any kind of impurity. Children were fed guilt with their breakfasts, and were expected to “tow the line”, particularly by the elderly. The elderly were also the “tellers of stories” and were massively respected by children and adults alike. Religion was mystical, majestic and mysterious. Salvation was kind of considered a tough accomplishment, if not an unlikely outcome. They held themselves to very high standards (drunkenness and conflict notwithstanding) Sin was an almost intolerable burden on the conscience until confessed, and guilt tended to linger even beyond that.
The Italians were very much into a sort of “tolerant order”. Drunkenness was simply unheard of and baffling. Fighting and “dirty tricks” were considered totally impermissable. Family harmony was extremely important. Purity was important, but it was understood that, among the unmarried, lapses were just part of life and were, after all, simply a manifestation of oncoming fecundity. Children were adored, and grandparents were virtually “co-conspirators” with children in getting around parents’ rules. But a grandparent’s reproach to a child stung hard until “undone” by “Now that’s over, and you’ll be good now.” Religion was part of everyday, like eating, and there was a sort of underlying assumption that Jesus or Mary would pull one’s chestnuts out of the fire in the end, almost no matter what. Sinfulness in general was sort of assumed, whether or not for good reason, and was borne lightly on the mind notwithstanding a strong understanding that it had to be offloaded in the confessional. That offloading was complete; slate clean.
But again, those were Alpine Italians, and they might have been different from southern Italians when it came to religion and sin. I am aware they are different in other ways.
I will say, too, that there were differences among the Irish. Those from the English-speaking “Pale” were more easygoing than those from the Gaelic-speaking West; the latter, in my family at least, being warriors and heroes in every way.
This is a stupid question but I always wonder where those jokes come from when I hear them. Debbie
Um…ah…I’m afraid I don’t quite get the phrase…Sorry. 