Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=gvan20

Download by: [Rosario Perricone] Date: 12 December 2015, At: 03:57

Visual Anthropology

ISSN: 0894-9468 (Print) 1545-5920 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gvan20

Death and Rebirth: Images of Death in Sicily

Rosario Perricone

To cite this article: Rosario Perricone (2016) Death and Rebirth: Images of Death in Sicily,Visual Anthropology, 29:1, 1-21, DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2016.1108820

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2016.1108820

Published online: 11 Dec 2016.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Death and Rebirth: Images of Death in Sicily

Rosario Perricone

Photographs were often taken during funerary ceremonies in Sicily. Local photo-graphers were commissioned to document funerals as if they were christenings,communions or wedding ceremonies; and it is no mere coincidence that in funeralportraits the relatives arranged around the coffin assumed postures similar tothose seen in photos of festivities. This tradition of taking photos during such ‘‘mixedoccasions’’ gives the images a profound significance and highlights the archaic rootsof the popular ideology of death as a continuum of life.

THE FESTIVE FUNERAL

The pictures examined here come from collections belonging to country familiesfrom various places in Sicily.1 They are family pictures taken at the end of the 19thcentury or in the early 20th century. Most were taken outside, and their subjectsare always in celebratory dress. The authors of these pictures are professionals:owners of studios or people operating as street photographers,2 tradesmen whowere common in Sicily following the invention of the gelatine process, whichallowed every amateur to get excellent results using dry plates that were readilyavailable from the market. This, added to the appearance of new and smallercameras, meant that by around 1880 photography was available to everybody,even in the smallest villages [Mormorio 2000: 10–11].

During the last decades of the 19th century photography was taken up by localaristocrats and those of the middle class who, attracted by the new technology’spotential for expression and documentation, were wealthy enough to buy theequipment. It was during this period, around 1890, that the biggest companiesresponsible for the global production of photographic material, Agfa, Zeiss andEastman Kodak, were founded. The simplicity of their new cameras gave themore enterprising a chance to record moments of everyday life. Painters were

ROSARIO PERRICONE is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Academy of Fine Arts ofPalermo, and Director of the International Puppet Museum Antonio Pasqualino of Palermo. Hisbooks and articles on visual and applied anthropology include Il volto del tempo. La ritrattisticanella cultura popolare (ed.) [2000], I ricordi figurati: «foto di famiglia» in Sicilia [2006],Immagini devote del popolo indiano (ed.) [2008], La ricerca sul campo come ‘‘Extraordi-nary Experience’’ [2010] and I ferri dell’Opra: Il teatro siciliano delle marionette [2014].E-mail: rosario.perricone@gmail.com

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online atwww.tandfonline.com/gvan.

Visual Anthropology, 29: 1–21, 2016

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 0894-9468 print=1545-5920 online

DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2016.1108820

1

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

interested in photography too for obvious professional reasons, as were manywriters who were attracted by this new instrument for ‘‘visual writing.’’

Examples of a successful fusion of literature and photography in Sicily—following in the footsteps of the French naturalists—were the Verismo writers(Capuana, Verga and De Roberto)3 and various personalities and intellectualswho worked in that early period. Many photos taken by local intellectuals arestill in the possession of their descendants, and with families of mostly peasantstock who were given the images.

Photography has the ability to insert itself into the cycle of human life (from thecradle to the grave), a cycle measured by its rites of passage4 [Van Gennep 1981],which are followed in strict observance of the family’s importance within its socialcontext. These photos reflect ‘‘a conception of the world and of life’’ that is charac-teristic of traditional Sicilian society. Local photographers were always around tocapture the most important occasions, from birth to death; their task was to sealthe joy of happy events or ease the torment of distance or absence. The majorityof family photographs are taken as futura memoria, or future memories: thus theircirculation in the family group encourages the creation and reaffirmation offamily ties. Many photos that portray groups of relatives are destined to become‘‘emblems’’ of a family’s identity, rooted in the continuity of family ties that wouldhave been destroyed by distance (emigration or military service) or absence (deadrelatives or ‘‘forefathers’’) [Perricone 2006]. Photos were also taken during funeralceremonies.5 In the same way that they recorded christenings, communions orweddings, local photographers also documented many Christian burials. A moreprofound meaning can be attributed to these photos of ‘‘sad’’ occasions if weconsider expressions found in the Sicilian dialect associated with the burialceremonies: cc’am’affari na bbella festa (we’ve got to throw him a good party), orchi bbella festa chi cci fıciru (what a good party we threw him!) [Figures 1–7]. Theparticipation of musical bands in funeral processions is thus no surprise. Thefamily, mostly from middle and higher social classes, hires the music (that is,the band), whose absence might denote the family’s niggardly respect for thedeparted [Figures 8 and 9]. And the funeral must be properly immortalized withphotos and videos, exactly like other celebrations, in particular weddings andchristenings [Figures 10–12].

It should also be noted that funerals were, and still are, associated withbanquets offered to the family in mourning as a ‘‘consolation’’ (known locallyas cunsulu). It’s no coincidence that photos of funerals show the relativesgathered around the corpse in postures similar to those seen in celebratory pic-tures. These images reveal the underlying archaic roots of the popular ideologyof death as a continuation of life.

If such photos have captured past events for nearly a century, each new viewingby their owners triggers new commemorative processes of varying length andquality. It is thanks to the narration of these memories, through their integrationwith other documentary sources (both written and oral), that this corpus ofimages can be evaluated using a historical and anthropological perspective.6

Although an image has an obvious primary meaning, inferred from the realityit represents, it can never be separated from its ability to ‘‘stand for’’ somethingelse. It is in its ability to trigger emotional reactions, stimulate associations and

2 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

attract attention, that an image reveals its communicative potential. Today there isa greater awareness, both theoretical and practical, of how culture and communi-cation are closely related, and the ways in which ‘‘image communication isresponsible for the creation and consolidation of the social networks of relation-ships’’ [Chalfen 1997: 16, trans.]. These social networks are created when theimages become tools for storytellers.7

Their subjects may be long gone, yet photographs continue to elicit stories fromtheir owners. The inevitable fading of the images merges with the vitality of thevoices that recall past events. The two communication practices (visual and oral)are moreover linked by a relationship of absolute interdependence, ‘‘an iconichuman world is unthinkable without a human language world [. . .], visual seman-tics cannot be separated from the linguistic system which created it’’ [Pennisi 2002:13, trans.]. With this perspective in mind, we used the photo-interview method inthe course of this research to explain all of the contextual aspects connected withan image that cannot be deduced from an objective viewing. By connecting the pic-tured to the living, the photographed subject to its social context, the life stories ofthe witnesses (the owners of the photographs), the reason a picture was com-missioned and its use, we can start to understand the complexity of meaningsinherent in an image [Figures 13–15]. The analysis of a corpus of photography can-not be conducted only on the basis of a visual understanding of the images, butone must also search for connections between the different stages of an image’s life(production, transmission and use) [Geffroy 1990]. It is in the ‘‘life story’’ of an

Figure 1 Alessandra family portrait around the body of Salvatrice Alessandra, Giarratana (RG),1939.

Death in Sicily 3

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

image, in its passage from one generation to another, in its representation ofrelationships, that a photograph reveals its strength as a particular type of‘‘biographical object,’’ capable of eliciting stories from the memories of its owners.

DEATH AND REBIRTH

In the Sicilian edition of the Giornale d’Italia of 24 January 1930, a photograph ofan old Sicilian appeared with the following caption: ‘‘The old Lemmo Domenico,

Figure 2 Funeral Procession of Crocifissa Buggemi in Calamonaci (AG), 1947.

4 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

son of the deceased Antonio, from Tripura (Messina). He wears a cloak and abirritta. His thumb is placed between the index finger and the middle finger ofthe left hand, as superstitious ritual to ward off the evil eye, as it was believedthat the old would die immediately after being photographed’’ (trans.).

As the Sicilian folklorist Giuseppe Cocchiara noted of this: ‘‘The photograph ofthe old Sicilian shows two survival techniques: the ‘hand in the form of vulva’gesture, and what ethnographers call the shadow or reflection. According toprimitive mentality, being photographed meant losing your soul to the person

Figure 3 Funeral Procession of Crocifissa Buggemi in Calamonaci (AG), 1947.

Death in Sicily 5

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

who took possession of the photo; the possessor was then free to performany action he wished onto the photo and his actions would then be magicallyreproduced onto the original’’ [Cocchiara 1985: 73, trans.].

In Sicily, up until a few decades ago, photographic images, together with theintimate parts of the persons depicted, were used to make ligatures of love.8

Cocchiara observed: ‘‘On the island of Karpathos it is still thought that the oldwho are photographed will just fade away’’ [idem, trans.]. This belief stemsfrom the idea that the soul is closely connected to the body; it is the source of a

Figure 4 Funeral Procession of Crocifissa Buggemi in Calamonaci (AG), 1947.

6 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

person’s identity, and life depends upon it. Making an image of a person is liketaking away his soul, thought to be the copy of the spirit of the body, hence thedeterioration of the body and the possibility of performing magic feats on theimages.9 This ‘‘popular ‘‘superstition’’ about the photographic portrait is like sur-rendering oneself into the hands of others: to fate, death, God [. . .] The sense, thepremonition, that photography has to do with identity and death,’’ as Sciascia[1980: 75, trans.] says, emphasizes the power of the image to abolish time and con-firms, even strengthens, the myth of the eternal return of the souls of the dead.

Figure 5 Funeral Procession of Crocifissa Buggemi in Calamonaci (AG), 1947.

Death in Sicily 7

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

As Belting has remarked, it was Maurice Blanchot who raised the metaphysicalquestion about the observation of images of death:

Paradoxically, our eyes see something that isn’t there. In a similar way an image finds its truemeaning—and therefore something to reproduce—in what is absent, in what can only be inthe photograph. A photo represents not what is actually in the photo but what can appearonly in a photo. A dead man is always absent, death is an intolerable absence that can onlybe eased by a picture. This is why mankind puts its dead relatives in a well-defined place(the grave) giving them, through an image, an immortal body, a symbolic corpse, to resocialisewith while the mortal body fades away. The image that embodies a dead person acquires a

Figure 6 Display of a coffin in front of the Mother Church in Bagheria (PA), 1940.

8 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

different meaning to a picture of his cadaver [ . . . ]. The body belongs to life as the photo thatembodies it belongs to death, and the same is true if it is destined or already happened. [. . .]Men are helpless when faced with the fact that at the end, life transforms itself into a picture.They lose the dead man who had participated in the life of the community and all thatremains is a picture [. . .] images remind us that death is a radical absence. The contrastbetween presence and absence that we can still see today in the pictures has its roots inthe experience of the death of others. We have before our eyes the same images that arebefore the eyes of the dead, who are no longer with us. [Abridged from Belting 2011:173–175, trans.]

Figure 7 Display of a coffin in front of the Mother Church in Bagheria (PA), 1940.

Death in Sicily 9

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

Figure 8 Funeral Procession of Peter Fucarino with musical band, in Ficarazzi (PA), 1940.

Figure 9 The funeral procession of Vincenzo Adamo with musical band, in Campofranco (CL),1960.

10 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

Photography becomes another way to ‘‘keep’’ the dead in the land of the living.In their internal conversations, relatives turn to a photo of the deceased (u quatru,‘‘a painted portrait par excellence’’ in the Sicilian dialect) which over time ‘‘tendsto assert itself, in the progressive sclerosis of memory, as the preferred conver-sationalist, a surviving reality’’ [Faeta 1998: 18, trans.]. Being the only availablepicture of the deceased, the quatru becomes also a symbol of family identity.10 Itis important to note that before the advent of photography, the word quatruwas associated with sacred images, so it is not surprising it came to be assimilatedwith ‘‘ancestors’’11 in popular understanding. Popular culture considers sign andcontent as mutually dependent: image and reality are so close that they are almostoverlapping. These kinds of image, together with various icons (from crucifixes torosaries and effigies of the saints, Christ and the Madonna), were used to create

Figure 10 Portrait of the Lo Dico family around the corpse of the grandmother SalvatriceRandazzo in Blufi (PA), 1936.

Death in Sicily 11

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

‘‘altars’’ or small places of worship in each house. These unique arrangementswere deeply sacred; a continuation of a practice that mingled ‘‘divinity’’ and‘‘ancestors’’ in a single ritual.

The images of the dead are still not considered to be only material objects. Thissuggests that the idea persists of an image

as a momentary reflection of what is real, a copy of an original, the content (what is repre-sented) is not in the picture, rather it is outside, in the so-called material reality, as if theimages were blessed with a radiating force which propels their interpretation out of theirframes, [. . .] as the only picture available of their ancestors, the quatru, in all its variants,becomes, first and foremost, a symbol of familial identity for its owners. Although thephoto was taken to create continuity with an imagined future, today, [. . .] their descen-dants use it to create continuity with the past. [Marano 2001: 8–9, trans.]

Figure 11 Portrait of the Di Gangi family around the body of Abbondanza in Tusa (ME), 1950.

12 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

The quatru that depicts the deceased is made by extracting, usually post mortem,an effigy from a portrait of the couple. The separated couple is thus ‘‘reunited’’through the establishment of daily ceremonies to maintain the relationship of thedeceased with their family. The quatru becomes the focus of all the ceremonialand ritual emotional behavior: it is adorned with flowers, talked to, complainedto, touched, kissed and cried over. ‘‘From a mnemonic perspective, the new bodyis the photo’’ [Faeta 2000: 132, trans.]. Thus the quatru reveals the power of thefuneral photo to create a new physical object, located in the place where the

Figure 12 Portrait of the Colletti family around the tomb of John Colletti, in Chicago, 1920.

Figure 13 Lararium inside the home of Josepha Inga in Calamonaci (AG), 2000.

Death in Sicily 13

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

deceased appears in the image. Before the advent of photography, the wordquatru referred exclusively to the sacred images that adorned the house. Theuse of this word to describe both sacred images and framed pictures (mostly ofdeceased persons) is no coincidence. Popular culture considers sign and contentas mutually dependent: image and reality are so close that they are on the pointof overlapping. ‘‘Each picture contains the subject portrayed, it represents it and,with its power of recall, brings it into the present’’ [I.E. Buttitta 2002: 28, trans.].

In the course of our fieldwork, we have collected several photos of current lararia(shrines). Figures 13, 14 and 16 show pictures of deceased inner family membersplaced in oval-shaped frames and hung on a wall (father, brother-in-law, father-in-law) or over a chest of drawers (brothers, mother, husband).12 In the first set ofphotos [above] the pictures are arranged in chronological order while the second[below] shows the hierarchy within the family (the husband taking center-stage).Women look after the altars just as they take care of the dead; they dress the corpseand watch over it until it is put in the casket.13 This post mortem reconstruction of thefamily is created through the medium of photography, and can be considered acontinuation of the popular belief that the soul of the dead remains inside the home.

In Sicily, as in other Italian regions, the Festival of the Dead is celebrated onNovember 2, when it is believed that during the night of November 1–2 thesouls of dead people roam the streets and return to their homes with gifts forthe children [A. Buttitta 1996; Petrarca 1990: 119–130; Figure 14 here]. Where else

Figure 14 Josepha Inga with cannistru on November 2, Calamonaci (AG), 2004.

14 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

can you enclose the spirit of a dead man who has returned home if not in hispicture? The following morning, a procession would start from the home of theliving and end at the kingdom of the dead, the cemetery. Women and children takepart in this procession and the youngest male of the family brings a picture of thedead (quatru). On reaching the graveyard, the picture is placed on the grave anddisplayed until the conclusion of the midnight mass, when the families returnhome.14 Photography from the perspective of this ritual becomes real, it ‘‘portrays

Figure 15 Portrait of Rosario Perricone was at the center of a dress brooch depicting hisgrandfather Rosario. (Photo by Pasquale Di Marzo in Calamonaci [AG], 1914)

Death in Sicily 15

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

the deceased and, as it contains their essence, makes them present’’ [Faeta 1998:130, trans.]. On the day of the Festival of the Dead, children receive lu cannistru,a basket containing anthropomorphic sweets (made from sugar or honey paste),granatu (pomegranate), ficu (dried figs), castagni (chestnuts), mennuli (almonds),nuci (nuts) and nuciddi (hazelnuts). Children show their relatives the baskets,saying Talıa chi belli morti chi mi purtaru! (look what the dead have given me!).Children who bore the name of their grandfather would say: Lu nnonno ti portali morti! (Grandfather has brought the ‘‘dead’’). Arriving home these children simanciavano li morti, they eat the dead (the food contained in the basket). Theseexpressions show that the donor (the dead) and the donated (the food or ‘‘thedead’’) are the same; an overlap that must be seen in the light of a far more generalinterpretation of this unique mythic ritual. As Antonio Buttitta noted, ‘‘cakes arenot for the children but for the deceased. It is a dinner served in honor of deadpeople’’ [1996: 245–246, trans.]. Not only is there transference between the donorsand the donated but there is also an inversion between the givers and the receivers.The dead represented by the food in the cannistru are symbolically eaten by thechildren who represent their grandparents whose name they have inherited,within a ritual exchange that is testimony to the link of solidarity between thedead and the living: ‘‘If children are the dead, the dead are the children. We havea logical cycle of overlap and inversion of the symbolic protagonists where thedead are reborn through the children’’ [A. Buttitta 1995: 15, trans.].15

Figure 16 The Spataro family chapel in the cemetery of Calamonaci (AG), 2011.

16 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

An example of the symbolism that associates children and the deceased can beseen in a photo taken in Calamonaci in 1913, of little Rosario Perricone who isstanding on a chair wearing a flared dress, typical of the period, and an elegantlace shawl around his shoulders [Figure 15]. At the middle of his chest there isa locket containing an image of his dead grandfather, also called Rosario. Someyears later, the boy is photographed with his younger brother, again with thelocket with his grandfather’s portrait on his chest. In traditional society not onlydo children bear the names of their grandparents, but in the photos we have exam-ined here they also ‘‘wear’’ their portrait. The complex symbolic relationshipbetween children and the deceased, considered to be members of opposing yetrelated generations, continues therefore in the composition and use of the photo-graphic image. To conclude, we can say that photographs blend together differentways of representing time and space, both everyday and on special occasions,establishing a macro category that contains all of the different components thatconstitute a ‘‘crisis of presence’’ [De Martino 1975, trans.]. By making a connectionof senses between the various referential contexts possible with the creation of twogroups of anthropological triads: a visible triad (home, cemetery, body) thatopposes an invisible triad (word, image, gesture), photography, through this pro-cess of ‘‘confrontation=merging,’’ is able to restore the irreparable disappearanceof the physical body, converting it into an ethereal presence that is continuallyrevived through the image of the deceased, the quatru.

NOTES

1. The pictures come from the following provinces of Sicily: Bagheria (PA), Bluf (PA),Campofranco (CL), Calamonaci (AG), Ficarazzi (PA), Lucca Sicula (AG), Tusa (ME).A research project on Sicilian family albums has been launched in the laboratory of vis-ual anthropology and the laboratory of training and research at the Demoethnoanthro-pological Assets degree course, in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at theUniversity of Palermo. For more information on iconographic texts and on photographicarchives concerning the traditional culture of Sicilian families, cf. Acquaviva [1986,1990]; A. Buttitta and Cusumano [1992]; Perricone [2000]; Todesco [1999]. For a compari-son with other regions, cf. Contini and Martini [2001]. For a brief ethnographic sketch ofSicilians, cf. Quaggiotto [1991]. For the history of photography regarding Agrigento, cf.Alessi [2000]; for the history of photography regarding Palermo, cf. Morello et al. [1999];Morello [2000]; Mirisola and Vanzella [2001]; Di Dio and Scaglia [2003].

2. One of the street photographers in Agrigento was Pasquale Di Marzo. About 50 photoshave been found with ‘‘DI MARZO PASQUALE photographer’’ stamped on the back,all of them taken between 1900 and 1920.

3. For a discussion on the spread of photography by the realist writers of the late 19thcentury Sicily, cf. Nemiz [1982].

4. For an overview on the songs, music and performances related to the cycle of humanlife in Sicily, cf. Bonanzinga [1995].

5. On traditional practices concerning funerals, cf. De Gubernatis [1878]; Van Gennep[1981]; De Martino [1975]; Granet and Mauss [1975]; Thomas [1976]; Lombardi Satrianiand Meligrana [1989]; Huntington and Metcalf [1985]; Hertz [1994]; A. Buttitta [1995].For more information on iconographic texts concerning traditional culture, cf.Danforth [1982]; Faeta [1998, 2000]; Pardo [1989]; and Ruby [1995].

Death in Sicily 17

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

6. For the use of oral sources in historical reconstruction, cf. Contini and Martini [1988];Contini [1997]. For combined use of photographs and oral testimony as historicaldocuments, cf. Faeta and Ricci [1997]; Marano [1994]; Contini [1990]; Mignemi[2003]; and Portelli [2005].

7. Fundamental to the traditional practices of the cuntastorie, the storyteller, and the operadei pupi (Sicilian puppet theater) were painted billboards divided into scenes. Thesepainted signs represented the ‘‘visual symbols’’ that helped the public identify theepisode being staged. For further information, cf. A. Buttitta [1996]; Geraci [1996];Guggino [2004: 125–225]; Napoli [2002]; Pasqualino [1978]; and Vibaek [1985].

8. Oral testimony collected on 17 July 1990 from Calamonaci (AG); a recording of theinterview is kept in the Ethnomusical Folkstudio Archives of Palermo.

9. For a discussion on magical concepts in the field of ethnology, cf. Mauss [1965]. For adiscussion on the practice of magic in Sicily, cf. Guggino [1978].

10. In the division of family properties the quatru is inherited by the oldest member of thefamily or else by the grandson who bears the same name as the deceased. This practiceconfirms the fact that the images are assets defining the identity of a family; cf.Lombardi Satriani and Meligrana [1989: 269–272]; Segalen and Zonabend [1988:503-534]; and Marano [2001].

11. As is well known, ‘‘popular ideology tends to create an identification between signand referent, image and reality, which are felt on the same isotopy to the point ofconsidering them coincident’’ [I.E. Buttitta 2002: 28, trans.].

12. In ancient Rome the hearth of the home was the site of worship where the Penates, theLares (protectors of the family and home), and the Manes (associated with death) werehoused. Their images were kept in the innermost part of the house (penus, whencePenates, but often confused with the Lares), and they were inherited with familyproperties from generation to generation as they were considered the spiritual wealthand religious essence of the family, exactly as with the photos in current lararia. TheLares were worshipped in the lararium (the Lari shrine found next to the hearth)and they were connected to the household, servants included. On the history of thecult of the Lares from the rural world to the urban one, cf. Dumezil [2011]; on Romanburial practices, cf. Champeaux [2002: 103–111]. Traditional Sicilian beliefs includefigures called patruneddi di casa (patrons of the home) which protect and watch overit, a belief that brings to mind precisely the domestic cult practised in ancient Rome.For detailed research on magical practices in Sicily, cf. Pitre [1889 (III)]; and Guggino[1978].

13. This testimony was gathered in Calamonaci at Signora Giuseppa Inga’s home; cf.Perricone [2000: 53–64].

14. For celebrations of death in Sicily, cf. Salomone Marino [1886] and Pitre [1889 (IV):199–252].

15. For a complete description of rites and for a transcription of the interviews on theritual use of photos, cf. Perricone [2000: 53–64]; for an iconographic paper about thisceremony, cf. Scianna [2002: 276]. For a much longer discussion of the present topic,cf. Perricone [2006].

REFERENCES

Acquaviva, Rosario1986 Buscemi. Un secolo di vita per immagini. Caltanissetta: Lussografica.1990 Gli abiti dei contadini e della borghesia rurale dell’altipiano Ibleo tra ‘800 e ‘900. Caltanissetta:

Lussografica.

18 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

Alessi, Biagio2000 La memoria fotografata. Le origini della fotografia Agrigentina. In Il volto del tempo. La ritrat-

tistica nella cultura popolare. Rosario Perricone, ed. Pp: 15–31. Calamonaci: Associazione‘‘Michele Palminteri.’’

Belting, Hans2011 Antropologia delle immagini. Salvatore Incardona, trans. Rome: Carocci.

Bonanzinga, Sergio1995 Ciclo della vita e tempo della musica. Booklet accompanying the audio CD of the same name,

Rosario Perricone, collaborator. Palermo: C.I.M.S.Buttitta, Antonino

1995 Ritorno dei morti e rifondazione della vita. In Babbo Natale giustiziato. By Claude Levi-Strauss. Pp. 9–42. Palermo: Sellerio.

1996 Dei segni e dei miti. Una introduzione alla antropologia simbolica. Palermo: Sellerio.Buttitta, Antonino, and Antonino Cusumano

1992 Lo specchio della memoria. Un secolo di fotografia a Campobello di Mazara. Palermo: Associazioneper la conservazione della cultura popolare.

Buttitta, Ignazio E.2002 Il corpo dei santi. Breve discorso intorno alle immagini sacre. In his La memoria lunga. Sim-

boli e riti della religiosita tradizionale. Pp. 17–36. Rome: Meltemi.Chalfen, Richard M.

1997 Sorrida, prego! La costruzione visuale della vita quotidiana. Milan: Franco Angeli.Champeaux, Jacqueline

2002 La religione dei romani. Bologna: Il Mulino.Cocchiara, Giuseppe

1985 Il linguaggio del gesto. Palermo: Sellerio.Contini, Giovanni

1990 Storia di una famiglia contadina e delle sue fotografie. Archivio Fotografico Toscano, 6(11): 28–30.1997 La memoria divisa. Milan: Rizzoli.

Contini, Giovanni, and Alfredo Martini1988 Verba manet. L’uso delle fonti orali per la storia contemporanea. Rome: La Nuova Italia

Scientifica.2001 Salvaguardia e valorizzazione degli archivi fotografici di famiglia. In Strategie per la

fotografia. Incontro degli archivi fotografici. Oriana Goti and Sauro Lusini, eds. Pp. 25–27. Prato:Archivio Fotografico Toscano.

Danforth, Loring M.1982 The Death Rituals of Rural Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

De Gubernatis, Angelo1878 Storia comparata degli usi funebri in Italia e presso gli altri popoli indo-europei. Milan: Treves.

De Martino, Ernesto1975 Morte e pianto rituale. Dal lamento funebre antico al pianto di Maria. Torino: Einaudi.

Di Dio, Michele, and Erminia Scaglia2003 Gli Interguglielmi. Una dinastia di fotografi. Palermo: Enzo Sellerio editore.

Dumezil, Georges2011 La religione romana arcaica: Miti, leggende, realta. Milan: Rizzoli.

Faeta, Francesco1998 ‘‘Un mondo che continua in forma evanescente.’’ La morte e l’immagine in un’area del

Mezzogiorno. In Immagini dell’aldila. Sonia M. Barillari, ed. Pp. 18–24. Rome: Meltemi.2000 Il santo e l’aquilone. Per una’antropologia dell’immaginario popolare nel secolo XX. Palermo:

Sellerio.Faeta, Francesco, and Antonello Ricci (eds.)

1997 Lo specchio infedele. Materiali per lo studio della fotografia etnografica in Italia. Rome: MuseoNazionale delle arti e tradizioni popolari.

Geffroy, Yannick1990 Family Photographs: A Visual Heritage. Visual Anthropology, 3(4): 367–409.

Geraci, Mauro1996 Le ragioni dei cantastorie. Poesia e realta nella cultura popolare del Sud. Rome: Il Trovatore.

Death in Sicily 19

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

Granet, Marcel, and Marcel Mauss1975 Il linguaggio dei sentimenti. Milan: Adelphi.

Guggino, Elsa1978 La magia in Sicilia. Palermo: Sellerio.2004 I canti e la magia. Percorsi di una ricerca. Palermo: Sellerio.

Hertz, Robert1994 La preminenza della destra e altri saggi. Torino: Einaudi.

Huntington, Richard, and Peter Metcalf1985 Celebrazioni della morte. Antropologia dei rituali funerari. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Lombardi Satriani, Luigi Maria, and Mariano Meligrana1989 Il ponte di San Giacomo. L’ideologia della morte nella societa contadina del Sud. Palermo: Sellerio.

Marano, Francesco1994 Fonti cinefotografiche e fonti orali nella ricerca storica e antropologica. Etnostoria, 2: 21–33.2001 Credere per vedere. Storia e analisi di un fotomontaggio di famiglia. In AVMateriali, on-line

journal of visual anthropology, http://www.visualanthropology.net/avmateriali/1_2001/fotomontaggio.htm (accessed 1 July 2012).

Mauss, Marcel1965 Teoria generale della magia e altri saggi. Torino: Einaudi.

Mignemi, Adolfo2003 Lo sguardo e l’immagine. La fotografia come documento storico. Torino: Bollati Boringheri.

Mirisola, Vincenzo, and Giuseppe Vanzella2001 Fotografi a Palermo 1865–1900. Palermo: Gente di fotografia.

Morello, Paolo2000 Gli Incorpora 1860–1940. Palermo and Florence: I.S.S.F.—Alinari.

Morello, Paolo, et al.1999 Fotografie Fotografie a Palermo nell’Ottocento. Firenze: Alinari.

Mormorio, Diego2000 Introduzione. In Il tempo in posa. By Gesualdo Bufalino. Pp. 10–11. Palermo: Sellerio.

Napoli, Alessandro2002 Il racconto e i colori. «Storie» e «cartelli» dell’Opera dei Pupi catanese. Palermo: Sellerio.

Nemiz, Andrea1982 Capuana, Verga, De Roberto fotografi. Preface by Leonardo Sciascia. Palermo: Edikronos.

Pardo, Italo1989 Life, Death and Ambiguity in the Social Dynamics of Inner Naples. Man, 24: 103–123.

Pasqualino, Antonio1978 L’opera dei pupi. Palermo: Sellerio.

Pennisi, Antonio2002 Segni di luce. Tecniche del linguaggio fotografico analogico e digitale. Soneria Mannelli:

Rubbettino.Perricone, Rosario

2000 Il volto del tempo. La ritrattistica nella cultura popolare. Rosario Perricone, ed. Calamonaci:Associazione socio-culturale ‘‘Michele Palminteri.’’

2006 I ricordi figurati: ‘foto di famiglia’ in Sicilia. In L’Italia del Novecento. Le fotografie e lastoria: Gli album di famiglia. Giovanni De Luna, Gabriele D’Autilia and Luca Criscenti,eds. Pp. 167–221. Torino: Einaudi.

Petrarca, Valerio1990 Le tentazioni e altri saggi di antropologia. Rome: Borla.

Pitre, Giuseppe1889 Usi e costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del popolo siciliano. 4 vols. Palermo: Pedone Lauriel.

Portelli, Alessandro (ed.)2005 Storia orale. Special issue of Quaderni storici, 120.

Quaggiotto, Pamela1991 Sicilians. In Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume IV Europe (Central, Western, and Southeastern

Europe). David Levinson and Linda A. Bennett, eds. Pp. 235–237. Boston: G. K. Hall.Ruby, Jay

1995 Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography in America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

20 R. Perricone

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15

Salomone Marino, Marino1886 Le reputatrici in Sicilia nell’eta di mezzo e moderna. Palermo: Tipografia Giannone e Lamantia.

Scianna, Ferdinando2002 Quelli di Bagheria. Milan: Peliti Associati.

Sciascia, Leonardo1980 Fatti diversi di storia letteraria e civile. Palermo: Sellerio.

Segalen, Martine, and Francoise Zonabend1988 Famiglie in Francia. In Storia universale della famiglia. Albarosa Leone, ed. Pp. 503–534.

Milano: Mondadori.Thomas, Louis-Vincent

1976 Antropologia della morte. Milano: Garzanti.Todesco, Sergio (ed.)

1999 Angelino Patti fotografo in Tusa. Messina: Regione Siciliana—Assessorato dei Beni Culturalied Ambientali e della Pubblica Istruzione.

Van Gennep, Arnold1981 I riti di passaggio. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.

Vibaek, Marianne1985 Le scene e le figure. In I colori del sole, Antonino Buttitta, ed. Pp. 227–248. Palermo: Flaccovio.

Death in Sicily 21

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Ros

ario

Per

rico

ne]

at 0

3:57

12

Dec

embe

r 20

15