Lent Traditions
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Lent Traditions: In the Abruzzo region, it is a tradition to cut a paper figure of an old woman with 7 feet. The figure is meant to represent Lent, and is hung on the chimney on Ash Wednesday, 7 weeks before Easter. As each week passed, a member of the family, usually a child, cuts off one of the figure’s feet.
A long-held Lenten tradition consists of a cord being stretched on Ash Wednesday from one window to another, at the center of which is hug a figure made of rope and rags. The figure is decorated with 7 features and holds a spindle and distaff in its hands. Elsewhere on the same cord are hung a herring, garlic, an onion, a bit of charcoal (or dried cod-fish). All of these are symbolic of the traditional Lenten meal. As this decoration is being created and hung, the makers repeat a rhyme: